A landlord has been jailed for a year after making a homeless woman perform sexual favours for him in return for accommodation.
Guildford Crown Court heard that Christopher Cox, 53, offered the woman a room if she agreed to perform sexual favours for him involving spanking and bondage.
He also forced her to wear bikinis around the house whenever he was home and made her sleep in his bed each night.
A report of the court hearing by the Leicester Mercury says Cox was snared by ITV researchers who found an advert he posted, aimed at ‘a girl in need’.
The Mercury says: “The posts said ‘are you a young girl aged 16 plus who is stuck at home and wants to get away? Maybe you are homeless and can’t see a safe way out? I have a free room to live in for a young girl aged 14-28.’”
Cox admitted two counts of causing or inciting prostitution for gain and one count of controlling prostitution for gain at earlier hearings.
The offending took place between May and November 2018 and the charges relate to three separate women.
The first charge, relating a reporter posing as ‘Rachel’, relates to a period between August to September 2018 while the second offence against another undercover journalist took place in November 2018.
The third offence – relating to a homeless real life victim who cannot be named for legal reasons – took place between May and June the same year.
Despite being confronted by Jeremy Kyle, whose TV show was going undercover to expose the rent-for-sex activities, Cox posted a similar advertisement in October 2018.
The prosecutor told the court: “On 1 April 2018 [Cox] messaged [the homeless victim] saying she needed to sleep in his bed at all times, take part in naked modelling, BDSM and spanking in order to stay in his house. In May 2018 she agreed to come and stay with him and he messaged her saying ‘you have to wear a bikini at all times. You will be sexually submissive to me, you will spend a lot of your time tied up, I will spank and torture you when you deserve it.’”
The court heard that Cox had a previous conviction for assaulting a young boy when he was 18 in the 1980s, for which he was convicted in 2001.
A defence lawyer for Cox said he never did and never intended to have sex with the women without their consent. His client also believed his behaviour was perfectly legal saying ‘it is illegal if you say ‘I want sex three times a week for a room’. Saying you want to be ‘friends with benefits for the room is not illegal.’
Sentencing Cox, Judge Robert Fraser told him: “You were clearly targeting vulnerable women who by definition had significantly reduced choices.
“It is very clear your third victim was highly vulnerable but you made clear those conditions. There can be no doubt you were well aware of her desperate situation.
“She was suicidal and you were in no doubt she was in pain. Her comments speak volumes about the imbalance in that arrangement.”
