Behrendt v Burridge: QBD 1975

The defendant, a prostitute wearing revealing clothing sat silent and motionless behind a bay window, illuminated by a red light, to advertise her services as a prostitute.
Held: She was soliciting, in the sense of tempting or alluring prospective customers to visit her for the purposes of prostitution. No movement, signal or words were required. ‘In my judgment the facts here are conclusive against the defendant, and, as I see them, in the light of the law which is to be applied to them, there is but one answer. This young woman, sitting on a stool scantily clad, in a window bathed in red light and in an area where prostitutes were sought, might just as well have had at her feet an advertisement saying ‘I am a prostitute. I am ready and willing to give the service of a prostitute and my premises are now available for that purpose.’ It is clear, in my judgment, that she was soliciting in the sense of tempting or alluring prospective customers to come in for the purpose of prostitution and projecting her solicitation to passers-by.’

Judges:

Boreham J

Citations:

(1975) 63 Cr App R 202

Statutes:

Street Offences Act 1959 1

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

CitedOddy, Regina (on the Application of) v Bugbugs Ltd Admn 12-Nov-2003
A private prosecutor appealed dismissal of his complaint that the respondent had operated an unlicensed man-powered rickshaw service. The district judge had held that it was not a taxi service. It was, under the 1869 Act a stage carriage and . .
CitedDarroch v The Director of Public Prosecution CACD 1990
The appellant was charged with persistently soliciting a woman for the purposes of prostitution under section 2(1). He had been seen on several occasions driving his car slowly around a red light district. On one occasion he beckoned a woman towards . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 25 November 2022; Ref: scu.193385