Jury clears escort agency manager

A businessman, who ran a multi-million pound escort agency empire, has been cleared of any wrongdoing.

Steven Drew, 51, of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, had been accused of controlling prostitution.

The firm Silk and Lace, made "huge sums", London's Southwark Crown Court was told.

Drew and his co-accused argued it had nothing to do with them if their staff entered into private sexual arrangements with clients.

In the dock with Drew, of Millwards, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, was his son Paul, 24, and daughter, Kerrylyn, 27, who also live in the town; Lisa Stuart, 38, of Jubilee Close, Henlow, Bedfordshire, and Graham Sansom, 43, from Western Road, Tring, Hertfordshire.

They were cleared of conspiring to control prostitution for gain and plotting to launder money between 1 April and 25 November, 2005.

However, Steven Drew, faces sentence next month after admitting possession of cocaine and a CS gas canister.

The prosecution alleged Silk and Lace was one of the top players "in the call-girl field".

The court was told that an undercover police officer posed as a cash-paying customer to gather evidence on Silk and Lace.

'Full service'

He rang the agency in November 2005 not long afterwards, a woman called Luna arrived at the room colleagues had booked for him at the Premier Lodge Hotel in Barking, Essex.

The court was told the woman said the £120 fee would buy the officer "the pleasure of my company, the full service".

The jury heard that as she led him towards the bed another undercover officer made a pre-arranged knock on the door and he left.

Those on trial did not give evidence, but successfully insisted through counsel their business offered only a £120-an-hour escort and massage service.

After considering weeks of evidence the jury of nine women and three men decided they were telling the truth.