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By *utumnWoman
over a year ago
leeds |
Yorkshire Evening Post Thursday 14 February 2013
The debate over whether prostitution should be legalised is almost as old as the profession itself. Sam Casey met one ex-brothel owner and those on the other side of the argument.
IT’s difficult to imagine how different 72 Bayswater Road in Harehills must have looked when Raymond Telford bought it 45 years ago…….
Today, the former sweet shop, now called Spartan Spa, is fully kitted out with a steam room, sauna and jacuzzi.
It may sound relatively innocent – as, at first glance, does the venue’s website, with wholesome images, like rocks sprinkled with rain water; a happy-looking couple smiling in the sauna. But this is no ordinary health spa.
The ‘swinging’ section of the website is a giveaway – as are the blacked-out windows, the CCTV camera over the front door and the selection of dressing-up outfits in the bedrooms upstairs.
Spartan Spa is undeniably an adults-only destination. Nevertheless, Telford claims he is now offering merely what is allowed under the law.That’s because, in 2011, he was banned from running the place as a brothel.
Last month, as reported in the YEP, he was taken back to court for a proceeds of crime hearing, as a result of which he has been ordered to pay back £140,000 of criminal gains.It wasn’t the first time he’s fallen foul of the law. The 77-year-old – dubbed “the oldest pimp in town” by one national newspaper – had previous convictions for running a brothel, in 1986 and 1988.Immediately after the latest court hearing Telford, a grandfather of five, voiced his belief that brothels should be legalised.
Sitting in the living room area of Spartan Spa, nursing a cup of tea, he reiterates that point of view – claiming it is better for sex workers to be able to work in regulated environments than on the street.
“The law of the land is there to protect the people of the land,” he said.“A prostitute is just as much of a person as anyone else. They have got to be made safe. People may scorn them, but I believe they save a lot of lives, because if it wasn’t for them these men who are paying for sex might be out attacking women.”
Telford’s decision to open a brothel in the first place came about more by accident that design. After buying it in the late 1960s, Telford, who has a background in construction, let it as a flower shop. At one point there was a seamstress upstairs.He had intentions to turn it into a fish and chip shop but was denied planning permission. It was shortly afterwards, after meeting a woman who worked in the sex trade, that he turned to the vice trade.He said he had always run the place responsibly, allowing charity workers in to talk to the women, ensuring they were regularly tested by doctors – and denying entry to undesirables. He said: “We’ve got panic buttons in the rooms, we’ve got cameras on the door so we can see who’s coming in, the rooms are fitted with showers – it’s clean.”Telford is staunchly unrepentant about his past. In fact, he claims he was doing the girls who worked in his brothel a favour – and keeping the public safe at the same time.“People have needs no matter what, so if the punters aren’t coming to a place like this where are they going to go,” he said“They’ll be picking someone up off the street, or molesting someone. As it is now, with them closing places like me down, they’re going underground. It’s more dangerous.”………………………………………….
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