lap dancers accused of kidnapping boss over unpaid wages

[ed miliband]

... also accused of stealing his £4k watch

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...club-boss.html

Mandy-Laura Cool, 29, Charlotte Devaney, 34, Rachel Goodchild, 24, and Stephanie Pye, 30, are alleged to have enlisted the help of two male friends to recoup £42,000 owed to them by Curtis Woodman.
The women were hired to work as dancers in a room at the Embassy Club in Cheltenham during the four-day National Hunt horse racing festival in March last year.
It is understood that Mr Woodman, who runs a car sales business, had hired the room for use during the Festival.
But police raided the venue and closed it down, leaving Mr Woodman, 33, of Cheltenham, unable to pay the women the money they were owed, Gloucester crown court heard.
Six months later, on September 3, Mr Woodman was kidnapped, threatened and "subjected to various forms of violence" it is alleged. It is also said that he had a £4,650 Breitling watch and £60 stolen.
Prosecutor Martin Steen said: "There was, during race week of 2012, a premises in Cheltenham being used as a lap dancing club and some of the defendants were involved in the running of those premises.
"Unfortunately those premises came to close half way through the Festival.
"Some of the defendants were owed money by the victim. We say he was kidnapped and subjected to various forms of violence and threats. Items were taken from him in a robbery. It is not disputed by the Crown that the ladies in question were owed money by the victim."
Cool, of Southampton, Devaney, of London, and Goodchild, of Southampton all pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnap, along with brothers Robert Morris, 26, and Alexander Morris, 22, of Southampton.
In addition, the Morris brothers denied robbing Mr Woodman of a Breitling watch and £60 in cash.
Alexander Morris also denied having a Stanley knife, in a public place - the Northway Trading Estate at Tewkesbury, in Gloucestershire, where Mr Woodman worked.
No charges were put to Stephanie Pye, of Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands. She was said to be taking legal action to recover the money owed and is asking for the case against her to be dropped.
Audrey Archer, representing Goodchild, said that she was also taking civil action against Mr Woodman to recover the money owed. The other women were already taking similar action, she added.
All six were granted bail. The case has been adjourned to Bristol Crown Court on a date to be fixed.
Afterwards, Devaney, a DJ, actress and model who apeared in the British film How to Lose Friends & Alienate People with Simon Pegg, released a statement.
She said: "On behalf of myself and the other girls involved in this case, I would like to state categorically that we are not guilty of this charge.
"In actual fact, we have been the wronged party and are confident the truth will come out.
"We are looking forward to going to court later this year to prove our innocence."

[mew]

This story rules

[Brutus]

Fair enough. Proles showing that they can be radical

[ed miliband]

if some old union guys were in court for kidnapping their boss the left would be going mad right now.

[Sasha]

If anything the movie rights should be more than the money owed now, hope they get away with it...

[mew]

I'm pretty interested in how sex workers fight for themselves... I'm sadly under read about this kind of action but I know a lot of stories of things like strippers taking off a stiletto and smacking guys with it when they act up.

[Os Cangaceiros]

"Curtis Woodman"

haha

[Sasha]

I'm pretty interested in how sex workers fight for themselves... I'm sadly under read about this kind of action but I know a lot of stories of things like strippers taking off a stiletto and smacking guys with it when they act up.

there is the famous case of the lusty lady in san francisco where the (already a bit alternative) employees, after getting inspired by the unionising struggle of some of their bikemessenger boyfriends, started their own base union. the owner then tried to close the place and the girls bought the place as an collective. some very good stuff happend (slowdown strikes where invented for stripping, and the construction worker union instructing their members to only patronize this unionized strip club ) but shit has been difficult (its hard to run a strip club staffed by mostly alternative looking girls if society wants blonde barbies);

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/1998/01/lusty-labor

http://www.bayswan.org/

http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/arc...ippers/265376/

[piet11111]

Wait they would have gotten 42.000 pounds for one week ?

Over 10.000 per person for one fucking week ? damn i should get into the lapdancing business.

Now not getting paid really sucks but i find it very hard to sympathize with these women when they make almost 1.5x the money in a week as i do in a year !

[ed miliband]

Now not getting paid really sucks but i find it very hard to sympathize with these women when they make almost 1.5x the money in a week as i do in a year !

they make more than me, they make more than most people i know, but i'm not gonna hate on them for getting money. fuck that. if they can get a good price for their work i'm very happy for them, and if they don't get paid up for it i'll support them in whatever action they take.

it's a race to the bottom otherwise, pal.

e: in london tube drivers for e.g. get paid; i doubt you have an issue with that, what's the problem with lap dancers making some money for their work?

[Deity]

Are you all attempting to support kidnapping right now just because these girls are workers? Sure, they shouldve been payed, but didn't it say that due to the police raid he was unable to pay? They should be compensated, but the should not be allowed to fucking kidnap and threaten a man

[ed miliband]

Are you all attempting to support kidnapping right now just because these girls are workers? Sure, they shouldve been payed, but didn't it say that due to the police raid he was unable to pay? They should be compensated, but the should not be allowed to fucking kidnap and threaten a man

why not?

also, does it get painful being so pious?

[Deity]

why not?

also, does it get painful being so pious?

Why exactly is this ok to you? And how is that pious of me to be against kidnappings?

[Hermes]

Why exactly is this ok to you? And how is that pious of me to be against kidnappings?

How else would you propose they got their money back?

Regardless, they didn't kill him, and he'll still probably continue to have enough money to not pay his workers in a couple of weeks.

I mean, why on earth would you have a watch worth that much?

[Deity]

How else would you propose they got their money back?

Regardless, they didn't kill him, and he'll still probably continue to have enough money to not pay his workers in a couple of weeks.

I mean, why on earth would you have a watch worth that much?

See, this is a big problem that I have with people on the left. This is clearly about him being wealthy, so it's ok if HE gets kidnapped because he's rich. He is inherently the enemy and must at all times be treated as such.

If the tables were flipped, and they stole his money then he kidnapped them you would all have a completely different opinion. They did this to get their money; not to push for class struggle. Kidnapping and other acts similar that are done over money should not be accepted or supported no matter who is doing it.

[Hermes]

See, this is a big problem that I have with people on the left. This is clearly about him being wealthy, so it's ok if HE gets kidnapped because he's rich. He is inherently the enemy and must at all times be treated as such.

If the tables were flipped, and they stole his money then he kidnapped them you would all have a completely different opinion. They did this to get their money; not to push for class struggle. Kidnapping and other acts similar that are done over money should not be accepted or supported no matter who is doing it.

Why should we have any sympathy for those who are inherently opposed to our interests as a class, again? Just because it doesn't somehow advance the class war doesn't mean that we can't be pleased when the proletariat asserts themselves?

You're acting like they killed the guy.

[hatzel]

If the tables were flipped, and they stole his money then he kidnapped them

Maybe the tables already have been flipped, though, because they took £60 from him and he had them kidnapped I mean arrested...

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

Wait they would have gotten 42.000 pounds for one week ?

Over 10.000 per person for one fucking week ? damn i should get into the lapdancing business.

Go for it, comrade.

Now not getting paid really sucks but i find it very hard to sympathize with these women when they make almost 1.5x the money in a week as i do in a year !

They're also more likely to experience poor work conditions, sexual and police harassment, have few if any unions and so on. Nor is it the point of socialist politics for the workers to fight each other over the scraps that the bourgeoisie throws them.

See, this is a big problem that I have with people on the left. This is clearly about him being wealthy, so it's ok if HE gets kidnapped because he's rich. He is inherently the enemy and must at all times be treated as such.

Because he's part of the bourgeoisie. And yes, the socialist movement considers the bourgeoisie to be their enemies - we take a class standpoint instead of the bourgeois "universal" one. Is there anything odd with that? I think not.

If the tables were flipped, and they stole his money then he kidnapped them you would all have a completely different opinion. They did this to get their money; not to push for class struggle. Kidnapping and other acts similar that are done over money should not be accepted or supported no matter who is doing it.

So if a militant group were to kidnap a company executive in order to force the company to grant better working conditions or an increase in pay for their workers, we shouldn't support them? Don't get me wrong, I think that's a terrible idea for reasons of strategy (if it worked, the Belgian workers would be filthy rich by now due to the CCC), but I'm certainly not going to moralise over it.

[Brutus]

Anyone that has a watch worth forty grand is asking to be kidnapped.

[piet11111]

They're also more likely to experience poor work conditions, sexual and police harassment, have few if any unions and so on. Nor is it the point of socialist politics for the workers to fight each other over the scraps that the bourgeoisie throws them.

Yeah i agree.

Its just that huge sum of money getting in the way of triggering my sympathy button.