BBC: Payola, A Brothel & The Simulated Rape Scene

BBC PAYOLA, A BROTHEL

AND THE SIMULATED RAPE SCENE

Further from my previous post on the BBC Payola case featuring Janie Jones and her brothel for the rich and famous in London, some of the articles make for interesting – if not repulsive – reading.

The BBC Payola scandal centred around a brothel in Campden Hill Road, Kensington, run by Janie Jones who, it was claimed, controlled prostitutes by threats and whom she offered to BBC men as an inducement to play certain records and rig the charts.

Alongside Janie Jones in the dock stood:

John Christian-Dee, 34, Jones’ former husband and songwriter
Eric John Gilbert, 42, former clerk of Croydon county court who lived with Jones

Inside Jones’ house was a two-way mirror through which a particular sordid encounter was watched…

June 1970

During the trial in December 1973 a former prostitute, aged 24 from Scotland, told the Old Bailey jury about a particular encounter during June 1970. She claimed she was made to act out a simulated scene in which she was made to dress in a child’s outfit and hold a teddy bear. One man would pretend to be her stepfather and both he and another (Mr Y) would then fight to take her virginity. One of these men was an important producer of television commercials who was referred to as ‘Mr Y’ and had a liking for little girls. The other (acting as her stepfather) was the famous entertainer… Kenny Lynch.

Miss Jones told me to put on a playsuit before he (Mr Y) arrived. I also had a teddy bear which Janie Jones gave to me.

She told me that she had told Mr Y that Kenny Lynch was my stepfather, that he was going to take my virginity, and he was going to take it that night. He could watch through the two-way mirror.

It had been planned that Mr Lynch and I would have a bit of a struggle as he tried to seduce me. He was to pretend and tear off my clothes. I was to fight him off.

Mr Lynch took all my clothes off. He had all his clothes off. Mr Y rushed in then and said: “I think she would prefer me, old chap”.

In the end she had intercourse with Mr Y and he was very pleased because he thought he had taken her virginity. As far as Lynch was concerned, it was all part of the act.

Kenny Lynch OBE

Kenny Lynch, former boxer, songwriter and showbiz entertainer from East London, who went on to become the captain of the Variety Club of Great Britain’s Golf Society, was an apparent friend of Jones. He also ran a record shop in Walker’s Court, Soho and was a shareholder in a nightclub. He is a life-long fan of West Ham and close friend of Jimmy Tarbuck.

Kenny Lynch in Swinging London, 1965

‘Heavies‘

At an earlier hearing at the Mayor and City of London Court in July 1973, it was claimed that the girls were threatened with ‘heavies’ if they spoke to the police. One girl claimed:

There was talk of getting a certain person’s ‘heavies’ out to go after girls working for Janie Jones and there was talk of one of the girls being cemented under a bridge.

When asked by the defence to name who that person was, the girl broke down and refused to do so, eventually confirming when the name was spoken by the defence. That person was Kenny Lynch.

In December another girl told the court that she had received a visit from Jones and Dee requesting she changed her statement and was in fear of being scarred:

Miss Jones mentioned Kenny Lynch, that he was a friend of hers and would be one of the people out to get me.

They had told her:

She did as she was told because Miss Jones had said Kenny Lynch, other pop stars and wealthy people would get her if she did not deny everything she had told the police.

All the claims were denied by Jones, who was eventually found guilty and jailed for three years. Following her release she then had an encounter with Jimmy Savile concerning Myra Hindley, which you can read about in my Payola blog post.