EXCLUSIVE
By Charles Heslett
THIS man has been banned from entering the Leeds red light zone after a court heard he drove street prostitutes in and out of the city.
Peter Allenby is believed to be the first man in West Yorkshire accused of involvement in the vice trade to be made the subject of an Anti-Social Behaviour Order.
The 45-year-old was ordered to appear at Leeds Magistrates' Court yesterday along with nine women who the court heard worked as prostitutes in the Water Lane and Holbeck area of Leeds.
Allenby, of Westerton Road, Wakefield, accepted a two-week interim Asbo after he was brought to court by Leeds City Council and West Yorkshire Police under their joint Operation Crow aimed at smashing city centre vice.
Council legal officer Adrian Tonge said Allenby is accused of driving prostitutes to and from the Water Lane area. But his solicitor Murray Shiffeldron said his client contested the allegations.
Shaven-headed Allenby, dressed in a blue tracksuit top and jeans, spoke only to confirm his name, age and address. He was banned from an exclusion zone covering Water Lane, Sovereign Street, Marshall Street as well as Holbeck Lane, Bridge Road, and Top Moor Side in Holbeck Moor.
District Judge Christopher Darnton said: "This relates to the activities of prostitutes in the Holbeck area of Leeds and to Peter Allenby who, it is contested, drives prostitutes to that area.
He added: "If you breach that order it is an offence punishable with a fine or six months imprisonment, if dealt with at this court, or up to five years imprisonment if taken to crown court."
The case was adjourned until Thursday May 11, when the council and police will apply for a full Asbo.
Interim Asbos were also placed on nine women who, according to Mr Tonge, were found "loitering with the purpose of prostitution" in the Water Lane and Holbeck Village areas on various occasions by police over the last six months to a year.
All nine were banned from entering the red light zone until their full Asbo hearings and from causing "alarm, harassment, or distress" to persons living or working in West Yorkshire.
The hearings for Kirsty Ackroyd, 28, of Mill Lane, Ackworth, Pontefract, and Melinda Noutch, 24, of Tempest Road, Beeston, who did not appear, were adjourned to May 11.
Those for Moira Kinglin, 30, of Meynell Heights, Holbeck, Stephanie Nelson, 20, of Crosslea Farm Road, Kirkstall, and Natalie Gilleard, 22, of Marsden Mount, Lincoln Green, who contested the allegations, were adjourned until May 19.
Three other women were handed interim Asbos in their absence with the full hearings for Victoria Clark-Hutchins, 22, of Westerton Road, Wakefield, Patricia Holman, 36, of Parkway Vale, Seacroft; and Olivia McMenamin, 21, of no fixed abode, also set for May 19.
The terms of the interim Asbo for Thelma Fontain, 39, of Ninevah Gardens, Holbeck, were altered as she lives in part of the red light zone and was therefore only banned from entering Holbeck, north of Ninevah Road.
Acting Chief Inspector Richard James, of the West Yorkshire Drugs Intervention Programme (DIP), said: "Hopefully within the week we will be able to offer these women help to get off the streets.
"Our long term goal is to remove as many women from street prostitution as we can."
charles.heslett@ypn.co.uk