Photo by Nathan Wright on Unsplash
An interesting story appeared in the Scottish and national UK media on Wednesday 26 February 2025 about a case at Wick Sheriff Court which has made legal history.
Chief Constable of Police Scotland v Kevin Booth [2025] SC WCK 8
A link to the judgement (issued by Sheriff Neil Wilson) on the British and Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII) can be found below:
When I heard the first account of this story on BBC’s Six ‘o’ Clock News and, immediately afterwards on BBC Reporting Scotland, I assumed that the Sheriff Court had issued its Order under its criminal jurisdiction. I was wrong, but more about that later.
A word of warning to anyone contemplating reading Sheriff Wilson’s judgement, it contains graphic accounts of violence carried out by Booth against his victims. The judgement is not for the faint hearted.
Totally by coincidence, this story was reported around the time that a major Hollywood film, Heretic (starring Hugh Grant) had just been released; the plot of which featured a misogynist running a torture dungeon under his suburban home. Although the real life setting of Booth’s remote, baronial mansion in the Scottish Highlands definitely won out over Hollywood for its sheer spookiness factor.
A link to the BBC Scotland report can be found below:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy9dld3jgx8o
The Man with an International Travel Ban
The case centred around Kevin Booth who had been accused of physically abusing women in a private dungeon located in the cellars of his Highland home. Adding to the Grindhouse Movie atmosphere of this story, Booth was in the habit of filming these encounters. It later transpired that many of Booth’s victims were employed by him as domestic servants at his Highland home. Many of these women were foreign nationals who had been lured to the UK by promises of well paid employment with Booth. They were highly vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. These women were to be bitterly disappointed: the golden future that Booth had painted was a deception and, little did they know it, but they were about to enter a nightmare.
At first, I thought, nothing unusual about this story as violence against and the abuse of women and girls is still shockingly and depressingly common in Scotland (and the rest of the UK). Just that week, The Metro had run a front page story detailing the fact that the incidence of the crime of upskirting on trains had rocketed across the UK (see the link below).
Back to Mr Booth: he is a millionaire (apparently) who owns a remote Scottish Baronial mansion located at the end of a 10 mile private road in the Highlands. The Police, acting on complaints received from several women who had worked for Booth, gathered evidence against him of potential, criminal wrongdoing e.g. torture (referred to as punishment beatings) and human trafficking, but the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) later abandoned criminal proceedings against Mr Booth.
When the average person hears phrases like human trafficking and punishment beatings, you can’t blame them for arriving at the completely justifiable conclusion that this will involve breaches of the criminal law.
From knowledgeable sources of mine, it has been speculated that the Crown abandoned proceedings against Booth because it was not in the public interest (yes amazingly); there may have been some level of ‘consent’ given by Booth’s victims; and there was not a sufficiently high chance of securing a conviction against him.
That said, there are limits placed upon physical abuse that an adult may agree to undergo as the House of Lords made very clear in its decision of R v Brown [1993] UKHL 19 [1994] 1 AC 212. This case made headlines at the time because of the types of physical abuse which went way beyond the types of sado-masochostic sexual practices that would be deemed legally permissible.
At this point, it is worth restating that we have a system of public prosecution in Scotland (private prosecutions are extremely rare). It is the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) which make decisions about whether an accused person will face trial in a criminal court. Police Scotland can charge a person with a crime (in this case Mr Booth), but it will be up to COPFS to green light a prosecution.
As we have seen, a criminal prosecution against Booth was attempted, but was later abandoned. This development, however, did not deter Police Scotland from taking further civil action against Booth at Wick Sheriff Court by applying for a Trafficking and Exploitation Prevention Risk Order (TERO).
Mr Booth is now the subject of an international travel ban to last for a duration of 5 years. This Order is the first of its kind in Scottish legal history. The ban or was made in terms of section 26 of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015. The official name for this type of ban is a Trafficking and Exploitation Prevention Risk Order or TERO for short.
In relation to his activities, Booth, however, has not been convicted of any criminal acts and the travel ban was imposed by a civil court. The Police actively sought this civil order. There are other restrictions imposed on Booth by the Sheriff Court. He will, for instance, have to notify Police Scotland in advance if he proposes to employ women at his home. This Order is more about controlling Booth in the future as opposed to punishing him (in the criminal sense) for his past treatment of the victims in the story.
It has to be said that Mr Booth has a rap sheet that would turn most people’s hair white: physical abuse of pupils at a school in Africa where he worked as a teacher; further physical abuse of young children of school age in the North East of England; and, more worryingly, allegations of rape of a woman in the Republic of Ireland. Clearly, Booth is not a nice person – to put it mildly.
The Police have had significant involvement with Booth and have investigated him after a number of complaints were received from women who stated that they had been physically abused by him.
On BBC Scotland, the reporter likened the abuse to “punishment beatings”. Booth is still a free man for now – although the Police will continue to monitor his activities. At the time of writing, Booth was the subject of a criminal trial at Wick Sheriff Court for allegedly making indecent communication s to a woman (please see link to article on the BBC website below).
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd7v27nnv9go
The question being asked is “Why is this man not in jail?”
This is clearly a question for COPFS to answer because it is the relevant legal authority for determining whether a public prosecution of an accused should proceed.
The decision not to proceed against Booth is going to be particularly controversial given high profile campaigns about violence against women and attempts by the authorities to reduce these types of incidents.
What about the victims pursuing private prosecutions against Booth?
Well, this Blog has previously discussed the problems associated with these types of legal action in Scotland. It is theoretically possible, but highly unlikely in practice as the victims would have to make an application to the High Court of Justiciary for a Bill for Criminal Letters which would permit them to initiate a private prosecution against Booth. It’s worth remembering that the last successful private prosecution in Scotland was over 40 years ago (X v Sweeney [1982] JC 70)
A civil action, for the time being, might be the only effective remedy for the victims.
That said, the Police and COPFS are monitoring the situation and, if significant new, evidence comes to light, Booth may well have to face his day in a criminal court.
In conclusion, Sheriff Neil Wilson had this to say about Booth’s conduct (at paragraph 102 of his judgement):
“… the evidence of Mr Booth’s egregious conduct, as presented in court, was, at times, utterly harrowing. The graphic video footage, combined with the context and background provided by supporting documentary evidence in various forms, was redolent of a level of cruelty and depravity which, whilst extreme, one can only hope is rare. It might be thought that the use of such value-laden language in a legal judgment is inappropriate. I would beg to differ, and make no apologies for including it. 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.”
Recent Update About Mr Booth
On 28 October 2025, at Wick Sheriff Court, Mr Booth was found guilty of making an indecent communication to a woman who had been employed by him. Booth will return to Court at a later date to be sentenced by the Sheriff.
A link to the story on the BBC website can be found below:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyp392jx2do
Explanatory Note About Grindhouse Movies
According to Wikipedia: A grindhouse or action house[1] is an American term for a theatre that mainly shows low-budget horror, splatter, and exploitation films for adults.
According to historian David Church, this theater type was named after the “grind policy”, a film-programming strategy dating back to the early 1920s that continuously showed films at cut-rate ticket prices that typically rose over the course of each day. This exhibition practice was markedly different from the era’s more common practice of fewer shows per day and graduated pricing for different seating sections in large urban theatres, which were typically studio-owned.
Copyright Seán J Crossan, 26 February 2025 and 28 October 2025
Seán Crossan's Scots Law 