This is Tim Blake-Bowell, who along with his wife has recently been charged with “controlling prostitution for gain”. From the BBC -

A former PE teacher from Kent has appeared in court with his wife charged with controlling prostitution for gain.

Tim and Emma Blake-Bowell, aged 46 and 35, of Canterbury, were arrested in December as part of a wider police investigation into the sex trade.

The offences are alleged to have been committed between 31 October and 14 December last year.

At the city’s magistrates court the pair were granted bail and ordered to reappear at the court on 21 May.

Mr Blake-Bowell was suspended from his post at King Ethelbert School, a mixed comprehensive in Birchington, near Margate, following his arrest.

He no longer works at the school.

Details currently are sparse, but a Daily Mail article from the beginning of January provides a little more background to the story.

The games master, a 46-year-old father of two, was questioned on suspicion of keeping prostitutes, people-trafficking and money-laundering…

They were among seven suspects arrested last month in raids at 11 addresses in East Kent as part of Operation Vermont – a major investigation into the sex trade in the county.

Eight women said to be from Eastern Europe were taken into specialist police care and face deportation if it is found they entered the UK illegally.

The idea that these women may face deportation, particularly if there is evidence that they have been trafficked, comes across as particularly cruel and disgusting. It is well known that many women who are brought into the UK as prostitutes (or kidnapped and raped as sadly seems to be the case) are returned into the hands of their traffickers and pimps upon returning to their home countries. However, this is taken from the Daily Mail, so they may just be toeing their usual line of subtle or not so subtle asylum seeker bashing.

A source at King Ethelbert’s – the school that continued to employ Mr Blake-Bowell while he remained on bail – had this to say -

“Nobody could believe that Tim was arrested. He has always seemed like a model teacher and the kids love him.

“All the teachers have been talking about it and the parents are going to hit the roof.”

I always cringe at these OMG-he-was-such-a-great-guy-I-can’t-believe-it reactions when someone is arrested for something horrific. Few murderers/rapists/abusers/pimps, etc, actually advertise the fact – it tends to make them relatively unsuccessful at what they do. According to the article, the parents are “hitting the roof”, or rather, less than impressed with the school sitting on its hands with regards to suspending Mr Blake-Bowell.

A few nauseating facts gleaned from the article that must appall any right thinking human being -

The police swoops, involving more than 100 warrants, also involved houses in Ramsgate, Herne Bay and Sittingbourne.

Officers believe that four of the properties were being used as brothels…

It is believed that 1,500 women a year are brought into the UK to work as prostitutes.

There are believed to be around 300 brothels in Kent alone – many openly advertised in local newspaper classified advertisements. [emphasis mine]

I’d like to finish this post with a few words from Detective Sergeant Chris Hogben, who led the raids.

“A lot of these people, who are not much more than kids, have very little choice about what happens to them.

“It is a disgusting trade. These people are vilely exploited by criminals, who make large amounts of money out of it.”

I don’t think these sentiments can be expressed enough, and as such I shall continue to see how this case develops.