Locations
Altnabreac, Caithness, KW12
Description
A millionaire Highland lodge owner has been convicted of indecent communication, placed on the sex offenders register for two years, and ordered to pay his victim £2,000.
Kevin Booth, 65, from Altnabreac, Caithness, instructed his housekeeper to massage him weekly and asked about her previous sexual relationships and whether she knew how to spank.
Wick Sheriff Court heard he was assessed as high risk of reoffending and showed no remorse.
Sheriff Eilidh MacDonald said Booth held "a position of power" over the employee in his "extremely isolated" home, far from her family.
He will be under social work supervision for two years and must complete a sex offender rehabilitation program.
'Abuse of trust'
The court heard the woman, hired in August 2022, received a document requiring weekly massages. She lacked skills but reluctantly agreed after Booth insisted.
Concerned after the first massage, she told her husband, who urged her to quit, but she stayed for the good pay to support her family abroad.
For safety, she recorded massages. Sheriff MacDonald noted one recording where Booth asked: "Do you know how to spank?" He also discussed performing a sex act, with the woman's responses showing non-consent.
"This offence was a complete abuse of trust," said Sheriff MacDonald.
'Extremely unpleasant'
The sheriff described Booth as a "big man" and the housekeeper as a "small woman," vulnerable and alone.
"You abused that position of power," she said. "You thought that nobody would know that you were saying these sexual things to her."
She called it an "extremely unpleasant" non-contact sexual offence.
Due to no previous convictions presented by the Crown—despite a justice social work report suggesting otherwise—Sheriff MacDonald treated Booth as a first offender, limiting sentencing options.
Booth is already under a civil Trafficking and Exploitation Order restricting foreign travel.
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service noted the sheriff's statement.