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The operators of the last clip joint in Soho faced jail today for duping customers into emptying their wallets in the vain hope of sex.
The pair ran Twilights in Rupert Street where customers would be lured into the bar and forced to hand over at least £300 just to be allowed to leave.
Stacey Crossley, 34, and Agnieszka Wolowska, 28, were arrested in an undercover operation by the Met.
Westminster council has a legal loophole enabling police to shut down the club and the only other clip joint left operating, Soho Cabaret in Great Windmill Street.
Crossley and Wolowska pleaded guilty to charges of blackmail and false imprisonment and were being sentenced this afternoon at Kingston crown court.
Wolowska worked as a hostess standing at the bar's entrance tempting people into the club for a fee of about £20.
Other female hostesses would be inside the club, persuading customers to buy heavily overpriced soft drinks until the customer realised sex would not be provided and tried to leave.
At this point Crossley would step in and demand more money, at least £300. Customers who refused to pay would be threatened or frogmarched to a cash machine.
Clip joints survived for decades as most victims were too scared or embarrassed to report them.
They didn't need a licence because they did not provide food, alcohol or entertainment. They are now classed as sex establishments.
