Housekeeper claims lodge owner offered money for sex

Telegraph

17-04-2025

The owner of a Highland lodge has gone on trial, accused of making a woman 'scared and nervous' by his sexual advances.
Kevin Booth, 65, a horse racing tipster, hired a female housekeeper to 'cut weeds' and give him regular massages, the court heard. On one occasion, Mr Booth is accused of offering her an 'extra payment' to 'spank' him.
Mr Booth is accused at Wick sheriff court of directing 'sexual communication' towards the woman, who is now 40.
The alleged offences are said to have taken place at Booth's home in Lochdhu Lodge, Altnabreac, Halkirk, where he lived with his wife and young child, between Aug 8 2022 and Dec 9 2022.
On Thursday, the court heard that the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, found a job through a Facebook group.
She was driven several hundred miles to Booth's home by her husband, and said she could not leave as she did not know where in Scotland she was and could not drive.
Giving evidence with the assistance of an interpreter over a video link from overseas, the woman told the court that she was 'surprised' Booth was naked for the massages except for a towel covering his 'private parts'.
She said Booth spoke to her after the massages, which took place either in his office or a 'private room', and would give her a 'rating' for them, saying they were 'normally seven out of 10, but sometimes eight out of 10'.
The woman said that after one of the massages, Booth offered her an 'extra payment' to 'spank' him.
On another occasion, she said, he offered her additional money 'if there was a happy ending' and he explained what it meant when she asked.
She said she refused these requests, telling him at one point that she had children and adding that she had not done anything to suggest she was 'interested in discussing these kinds of things'.
'I am actually afraid'
She also said that at one point, the towel with which Booth covered himself during massages was replaced with a 'handkerchief'.
The trial also heard evidence from the woman's husband, who said he had advised her to start making recordings because she was feeling 'uncomfortable' with things Mr Booth was saying to her.
She began to take video and audio recordings of the massages, with her phone tucked into her pocket, saying she acted after Booth had 'started to become naughty' during the sessions.
She said: 'I started recording because whenever the cover [fell] he asked me to pick it up and cover himself, and [said] it is not his job to cover himself.'
She described the effect Booth's actions had on her, saying: 'I am actually afraid, there is fear in my chest but I did my best not to show him.
'I was scared and nervous. I cannot really explain how I felt, but I was scared and nervous.'
She also said that Mr Booth had asked her intimate questions about her first husband, including about the size of his 'manhood'.
Required to be 'flexible'
Cross-examining her, Mr Booth's advocate Brian McConachie KC put it to the woman that she knew the job would involve giving Mr Booth 'full-body massages' and providing 'body care', as this had been outlined in emails with her.
The court heard she had initially ruled out doing these duties, but that she agreed to it after being told there was a need for someone who can be 'flexible' and do more than 'just cleaning'.
She said: 'I said to my husband 'I will try to do it'
'I have no choice, I need to accept this job, I need to send money to my children every month.'
Mr McConachie also said that, under her contract, if she had been 'uncomfortable with anything' she had been free to say so, and that she was also free to leave 'at any time', with outstanding wages settled and assistance given for booking a train or flight home.
When asked if she had ever asked to change her duties she said no.
The woman's husband said that he had offered to come and get her but that she had told him she was 'happy' and that she could 'handle things'.
Mr McConachie expressed surprise that the husband had been 'prepared to leave her in a position where she was uncomfortable'.
He put it to him the recordings were part of an attempt to 'extort' money from Mr Booth, and that he had 'demanded' £10,000 from him.
The witness dismissed the allegation as 'rubbish'.
He added: 'She wanted to carry on working there and it broke when he broke her.'
Mr Booth denies one charge of directing sexual communication to a woman without her consent for the purposes of his own gratification, contrary to the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009.
The trial, before the sheriff Eilidh MacDonald, will resume on August 7.