The betting tycoon who preyed on women and hurt them for pleasure

The ex-partner of a millionaire horse racing tipster who "tortured" women and filmed the abuse has warned someone could die if he is not stopped.

Kevin Booth was given a worldwide travel ban after a Scottish civil court heard that he attacked his victims in an underground chamber at his remote Highland home and in foreign hotel rooms.

Tammy Conner - who said she was beaten by Booth for four years from the age of 16 - has now decided to speak out in the hope that other women will come forward.

Another woman who worked for Booth at Lochdhu Lodge in Caithness told BBC Scotland News she had to sign a contract allowing him to "punish" her.

Tammy, who is now 44, said: "One of these days he is really going to hurt someone and they are going to end up dead or they are going to kill themselves.

"He shouldn't be getting away with it any more."

Booth, 65, described Tammy's allegations as "laughable" and said he had never been arrested, charged or convicted of domestic violence or abuse.

However, the sheriff who heard the travel ban case described the footage Booth had filmed as "utterly harrowing" and said his conduct amounted to "trafficking and exploitation".

Warning: This story features details which viewers may find upsetting

Tammy was 16 when she spotted an advert in her local paper in 1997: "Models required for race meetings."

Booth, who founded horse racing tips service Isiris, gave the teenager a job at his office in Keighley, West Yorkshire. She said he told her during the interview that she had "nice eyes".

The work was a combination of office duties and attending race meetings at courses across England and as far north as Perth.

Booth, whose business was built on premium rate phone lines, had made a name for himself as a top tipster.

In 1997 he told the Sunday Times: "I was making more money betting than through my salary so I decided it was best to pack in teaching and bet."

But his career change was also prompted by his 1994 conviction for caning children at the private school he ran with his then wife in Newbiggin-by-the-Sea in Northumberland.

His three-month jail term was suspended for two years but by this time he had become so successful that some course bookies refused to take his bets.

Tammy said she was one of a number of girls who were driven to the racing in a limo and plied with alcohol throughout the day.

"Then he'd suddenly try and kiss you or something. If you said no he'd say you had a punishment," she said.

"With me he gave me three envelopes and told me to pick one.

"So I picked one and my punishment for not kissing him or something was 20 lashes with a cane."

Tammy recalled being led to a sofa bed in Booth's office. She noticed a video camera on his desk, which recorded the beating.

"Every time he hit me I had to say 'please sir' or 'Thank you, sir'.

"And if I didn't say 'please' or 'thank you' he would start again."

Tammy said she was once beaten for kissing Booth's friend at the racing.

She said: "It just went on like that. But I didn't realise at the time he was doing it to the other girls as well.

"I thought it was just me.

"We were 16. We were kids. He effectively groomed us all."

Tammy added: "Some of the times he hit me I was so sore. I was black and blue. I could hardly walk or sit down. It was awful."

She said he would pay her extra for beatings and have her sign contracts saying she consented.

He also urged Tammy to sleep with him, and a year after she took the job she discovered she was pregnant.

Tammy said Booth was "happy" at the news and told her she no longer had to work in the office.

But another incident after the birth of their second child in 2000, which involved a riding crop, left her with marks on her back, bottom and legs.

She said: "After he had done that I said: 'You are not doing that again. I've got kids now'."

The beatings stopped - but Booth had other targets.

His world eventually imploded on Grand National day in April 2000 when West Yorkshire Police raided the family home.

Tammy was later told that a Brazilian au pair alleged Booth showed her a home video of him whipping a woman's buttocks and warned she would be "severely punished" if she failed to obey him.

The following day the 27-year-old said she was indecently assaulted in his office.

The entrepreneur claimed the encounter was consensual but a jury at Bradford Crown Court took just 80 minutes to convict him. He was jailed for two years.

Tammy said that after his release they moved to Vermont in the US, before returning to live in Booth's property in the Scottish Highlands.

Their new home was Lochdhu Lodge in Altnabreac, a small community in Caithness. It was built in 1895 as a hunting lodge in one of the most remote inhabited parts of Britain.

Accessible only by a private dirt track, the house has no neighbouring properties and offers complete privacy.

In 2010, Booth secured permission from Highland Council to build an underground chamber at the lodge.

The civil judgement said entry was via a trapdoor and a 60m-long curved concrete tunnel. It contains an empty coffin, life-sized Egyptian figures and a metal bench.

Tammy said that some years later she confronted Booth after finding a suitcase which contained sex toys and women's underwear.

She said: "He told me that because I didn't like doing that with him he would find other women that would, and he would pay them."

Tammy and Booth split in 2016 but they maintained contact.

She said she was aware women were being beaten at the lodge and that she had encouraged them go to the police.

Tammy never reported Booth but in 2016 she was convicted of a breach of the peace against him. The court admonished her and released her without further punishment.

In early 2018 a European woman was taken on as a maid by Booth.

The woman, who we are calling Marta, told BBC Scotland News that she was summoned to Booth's office within weeks of starting her job.

She said he then asked her to massage his "private parts".

Marta refused but said she was then told: "If you are not willing to do this you will not get more pay. If you do this you will get more pay."

She agreed to the request because she needed the money.

Marta says she was later presented with a new contract.

It stated that she could be "punished" if she did something wrong.

Marta's first offence, in Booth's eyes, was a chicken dinner that he didn't like.

She said he smacked her "really hard" on the bottom and then used a brush to strike her.

"I could not sit for a couple of days," Marta added.

She reported Booth to police in 2019 but the Crown Office dropped the case against him in 2021.

But following the recent civil action, Marta said she hoped that sharing her story would inspire others to come forward.

"I am speaking because I want to save other girls from that horrible man."

The civil court case in February brought Booth's behaviour into the full glare of publicity.

Police Scotland successfully raised the civil action under human trafficking and exploitation laws to ban him from travelling outside the UK.

The judgement said Booth communicated with economically vulnerable women on Skype and arranged to meet them in locations such as South Africa, Dubai, Sri Lanka and the Philippines.

He paid for them to travel to the UK, where they were subjected to violent "punishments".

It added: "Some of these messages explicitly mentioned payment for submitting to beatings."

The judgement also said Booth applied "financial pressure" on a woman to withdraw a rape allegation in Ireland.

Detectives recovered 341 home videos featuring women being beaten.

One 18-minute attack on a woman who was apparently unable to escape was described as appearing to be "nothing other than torture".

The judgement also referred back to his time working as a teacher in Botswana in the 1980s, when he "caned many students, and enjoyed doing so".

Booth is due to return to court next week for a sexual communication case.

He has denied the charges against him.

Tammy said she would be willing to speak to detectives about her experiences.

She said: "He just seems to get away with things because he is rich. He's never going to stop it."

Tammy urged women who have been beaten by Booth, many of whom may now be living overseas, to contact police.

She added: "He should be in prison."

The Crown Office concluded in 2021 that there should be no further criminal proceedings in relation to Marta's complaint but a spokesperson said it reserved the right to prosecute in the future.

They added: "We are working closely with Police Scotland on further investigations."

Det Supt Steven Bertram said the trafficking and exploitation risk order was sought in a bid to prevent "any further offending".

He added: "Trafficking and exploitation is a blight on our communities and has no place in society and we will use all resources open to us to tackle it.

"Time is no barrier to justice and we would always urge anyone with concerns or information to please come forward and speak to us."

In response, Kevin Booth said Tammy's accusations about his behaviour were "somewhat laughable".

He said he had been the victim of domestic abuse at her hands and that she had "exercised coercive and controlling behaviour by restricting my activities".

Booth said there had been no complaints, arrests, charges or convictions against him for domestic violence or abuse.

He said Marta's allegations were "not correct" and that he had "evidence to that effect".

Booth added: "When the actual evidence was put before the Crown Office they said that they were not going to prosecute."

He also said that the civil court judgement was still subject to an appeal and, as a result, he could not comment on it at this stage.

Additional reporting by Iain Macinnes and Liam Connell.

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