A “heartless” man pressured and threatened a woman into prostitution for his own financial gain. Craig Nicholas, from Warrington, decided to become a pimp after losing his job as a HGV driver following a traffic accident in 2018.
The 40-year-old raked in between £70,000 and £80,000 through his illegal business, which left the victim feeling “worthless and not good enough”. At Liverpool Crown Court on Friday (November 7), prosecutor Suzanne Payne said his offending began in 2018 when he advertised his victim’s sexual services online.
She said: “The victim agreed even though she did not want to do it. In her words, she felt she had no choice.” Initially, Nicholas would arrange the meetings and drive the victim to the homes of clients, where she would have sex with them for money.
Ms Payne said: “The business became busy quite quickly and the defendant began booking cheap hotel rooms. At one point the defendant rented a flat so the meetings could take place there.”
She said clients would sometimes become violent and choke or hit the victim, reports the Liverpool Echo. When the victim complained to Nicholas about this, he replied: “What the f*** do you want me to do?”
The prostitution business came to an end as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak. But in 2024, Nicholas again found himself in financial difficulties – and returned to the same offending. Appearing in court via a video link from HMP Liverpool, he pleaded guilty to two counts of controlling prostitution for gain. He also pleaded guilty to assault against a different victim.
Carmel Wilde, defending, said a probation report found Nicholas had “limited capacity to acknowledge the thoughts and feelings or others and an inability to address personal problems”. She said: “It’s the defendant’s first time in custody. He has minor previous convictions from over 20 years ago. He has time to reflect. He knows he has lost everything. But he does present as receptive to address the offending. He expressed remorse and regrets his offences, and he realises that he was putting the victim at risk.
“It’s difficult to mitigate such actions, but perhaps underlying the defendants behaviour was in 2018 he had a serious accident on the motorway. Having worked as a heavy goods driver, he was on crutches, unable to work and was under tremendous financial pressure. He describes struggling to survive and pay rent.”
She added: “While in prison he has undertaken a number of roles. He’s finished a cleaning course, he has trusted positions as a wing cleaner, welfare rep and activities mentor, and he’s also completed a Man Up course, and that’s something that he needs to do.”
Sentencing, Recorder Daniel Lister said Nicholas had “pressured” and “threatened” the woman into prostitution for financial gain. He said: “You demonstrated little or no care for her personal safety. Even when she reported her fear and incidents of violence, you didn’t intervene and help her. You treated her as a means of making money. On one occasion when she reported an incident of violence towards her from one of the men from whom you took money, your response to her was ‘what the f*** do you want me to do?’ A completely cold and heartless way to treat a woman.
“That offending stopped at the end of 2018. But when financial pressure returned, you returned to that behaviour and in 2024 you again forced the victim back onto prostitution. The victim estimates that in 2018, the value of the work that she had done was between £70,000 and £80,000. But of course, you were the person who received that benefit.”
He sentenced Nicholas to a total of 30 months in prison.
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