Photograph by Elislike
Three lapdancers and their actress manager have been cleared of kidnapping a nightclub boss over unpaid wages.
Charlotte Devaney, 34, and lapdancers Mandy Cool, Stephanie Pye, and Rachel Goodchild had denied the charge of kidnapping Curtis Woodman, 34.
Devaney had recruited the trio along with 57 other dancers for Woodman to work at a pop-up nightclub during the Cheltenham Festival. However, the club was only open for three nights before it was closed down by authorities because the dancers had stripped naked rather than wearing nipple tassels as required by the license.
Woodman then refused to pay the women their wages for the three days the club was open, claiming the women had breached their contracts and caused the closure of the club.
He claimed Bristol Crown Court that six months later, Devaney, the three dancers, and two brothers hired as “heavies” arrived at his place of work in Tewkesbury and bundled into a BMW. In the car he claimed he faced “terrifying” a two-hour ordeal during which he was beaten and forced to transfer £4,800 into Devaney’s bank account.
All four women and both of the “heavies”, brother Alex and Robert Morris, were cleared of the kidnapping charges, although Alex was convicted of robbing Woodman of £60 cash and his Breitling Skyland Avenger watch worth £4,650 during the incident.
