Sex fiend tortured women in underground ‘tomb’ at remote Caithness lodge

By James Mulholland

A former racing tipster used a hidden underground chamber at his remote Caithness home to abuse vulnerable women he had exploited.

Kevin Booth recruited females from the UK and abroad to come to Lochdhu Lodge at Altnabreac, and subjected them to so-called “punishment beatings”.

The 64-year-old has now been given the first worldwide travel ban in Scottish legal history following a civil case at Wick Sheriff Court.

The case was lodged by police, who claimed the unprecedented travel ban was the only way of them being able to keep track of Booth’s actions and helping to minimise the risk he posed to females.

The court heard that within a building at the lodge, there is a trapdoor which gives access to an underground chamber containing an empty coffin.

In a written judgement published by the court on Tuesday, Sheriff Neil Wilson – who saw 13 videos submitted to the court as evidence – explained how Booth abused the females and filmed the attacks.

In one of the videos, the sheriff described how a young black woman was handcuffed to a metal contraption in the “tomb area” of the lodge and Booth tells her she is being punished for the way she spoke to him.

Sheriff Wilson wrote: “He tells her she has to learn her lesson. She appears to be terrified. She is screaming and crying.

“She repeatedly tries to get away but is handcuffed to the bench. The defender swaps implements and continues to beat her. She is hysterical. She cries out that it is painful.”

The video being described continues for 18 minutes in what Sheriff Wilson says is “nothing other than torture”.

“She is chained to the contraption while the defender beats her. She is apparently terrified and tries to escape but cannot,” he writes.

The court heard how the police also recovered Skype messages which contained details of Booth arranging travel, visas, passports, payment and accommodation for “many women, with a view to meeting them at various locations abroad”.

Sheriff Wilson wrote: “Some of these messages explicitly mentioned payment for submitting to beatings. There were also letters, both hard copy found at the defender’s home and electronic copies recovered from his devices, between the defender and various immigration authorities arranging visas for many women and seeking to sponsor their travel.”

Police also obtained six witness statements during their investigations into Booth’s conduct at the lodge.

Sheriff Wilson said the statements describe “in detail” employing the witnesses at Lochdhu Lodge and “thereafter subjecting them to beatings, or threatening to do so”.

The sheriff also referenced information given by Detective Sergeant Christopher Hughes about Booth’s activities at the lodge.

Sheriff Wilson wrote: “DS Hughes’ evidence was presented to the court as, in effect, expert evidence on the subject of trafficking and exploitation, given his experience and his day-to-day involvement in the investigation of alleged instances of human trafficking in Scotland.

“In his evidence, DS Hughes was taken through a considerable volume of Skype messages, the general theme of which could be summarised as outlining the defender organising travel, visas and payment for women, and subsequently arranging to meet and abuse them.

“DS Hughes characterised this course of conduct as trafficking and exploitation.”

Lawyers for the police told the court that between 1998 and December 2022, Booth engaged in a “consistent course of conduct of recruiting women, both from the United Kingdom and abroad” for the purposes of “isolating them… and thereafter submitting them to violent beatings and forcing them, through threats of violence, to perform sexual acts on him”.

The lawyers told the court the police couldn’t monitor Booth when he travelled outside of the United Kingdom. They argued that the best way to minimise the risk he posed to females was to ban him from travelling outside of Britain.

Sheriff Wilson agreed with the submissions and passed such an order – the first to be granted in Scottish legal history.

As well as the foreign travel ban, Booth must notify police 14 days before hiring any female employee.

Police must be notified in advance of any female visitors to his property and officers may conduct unannounced welfare checks at his properties.

Booth cannot sponsor visas for anyone other than immediate family members without police approval.

He must surrender all passports.

Sheriff Wilson wrote: “Given the evidence presented by the pursuer, I had no difficulty coming to the conclusion that the defender has, consistently over many years, been engaged in a course of conduct involving the targeting of financially vulnerable women whom he subsequently coerces into submitting to abuse, and in doing so committed acts of human trafficking and exploitation.

“I would go so far as to describe the evidence as overwhelming, and that the totality of the evidence presented by the pursuer, in the form of videos, Skype messages, documents and witness statements allows no other conclusion.

“The evidence of Mr Booth’s egregious conduct, as presented in court, was at times, utterly harrowing.”

He added: “This judgment may be primarily concerned with the legal issues before the court, but it is important not to lose sight of the human suffering giving rise to this case.”