Strip-club blackmail trial abandoned

The trial of an ice hockey player accused of blackmail at a strip club in Soho has collapsed, after an unconnected police raid on similar clubs in the London red light district.

Alexei Eskine, 28, faces a re-trial after the jury was discharged because of the publicity surrounding the police action on Friday.

Mr Eskine, of Slough, Berkshire, was accused of blackmailing businessman Warren Fitzgerald after he objected to a £430 bill at the Kioko Club, Soho, on 2 September this year.

The sportsman, who plays for Haringey Racers, had told the court he neither asked the businessman for money nor "used any menaces".

The trial was coming to an end, but just before jurors were due to retire, publicity about the police raid on premises in Soho was mentioned in court.

As a result Judge Peter Fingret said he had no choice but to discharge the jury as "this most unfortunate coincidence" posed "too large a risk" to the defendant's right to a fair trial.