Call girl WPC Victoria Thorne leads police to prostitution ring

Aug 4 2009 by Sophie Doughty, The Journal

A CALL girl police officer’s saucy online adverts led police in the North East to smash a prostitution ring.

A long-running investigation by Northumbria Police has brought down a sex business with brothels all over the North of England and links to other criminal activities.

Neil Lock and his wife Natalie reportedly raked in more than £15,000 a week through their Notorious Girls escort agency, money which paid for the couple’s lavish lifestyle.

But when Northumbria Police officer Victoria Thorne advertised her “services” on the agency’s website, for £100 an hour, it sparked an 18-month probe, which would eventually close down the Locks’ business, and land them behind bars.

The PC, whose posed in saucy lingerie on the site, became the subject of an investigation by detectives from the force’s integrity unit. And evidence linking her to the Locks, of Galashiels in the Scottish Borders, sparked a huge investigation into organised crime throughout the North, involving Northumbria, Cleveland, Greater Manchester and Lothian and Borders police forces.

The covert corruption probe, codenamed Operation Reiver, led police to charge seven people suspected of playing a role in the sex ring, which ran brothels in rented homes across over the North East, North West and Scotland.

Thorne, 29, from Washington, pleaded guilty to misconduct in a public office earlier this year and is now behind bars waiting to be sentenced.

The Locks, both 28, admitted conspiracy to control prostitution for gain and conspiracy to manage brothels, and are also behind bars.

Neil Lock’s father Nigel Lock, 60, of Crescent Road, Manchester, admitted keeping a brothel, NG House in Bury, Lancashire – between January, 2006, and November, 2008.

Alan Bartle, 53, of Hollinhill, Winlaton, Gateshead, and Osher Marks, 57, of Ravensworth Place, Gateshead, each admitted a single count of keeping a brothel. The seventh defendant, Kevin Dixon, 41, of Masefield Avenue, Swalwell, Gateshead walked free from court yesterday, after two conspiracy counts – both of which he denied – were dropped.