A gangland killing, lap-dancers who are said to sell sex and the criminal past of the man behind the Spearmint Rhino empire
A gangland killing, lap dancers who are said to sell sex and the criminal past of the man behind the Spearmint Rhino empire
Chris Blackhurst and Adrian Gatton
16th September, 2002
A Standard investigation reveals the bizarre background to today's legal battle to strip a lap-dancing club of its licence
On 21 August last year, Stuart Cadwell, boss of Spearmint Rhino UK, the country's biggest chain of lap-dancing clubs, left the company's Tottenham Court Road branch and headed home. It was 2am as he walked to a nearby car park. Suddenly, he was the victim of an attack which was vicious even by the standards of central London's increasingly mean streets at that time in the morning.
Two men came up behind, struck him on the head with a machete and knocked Mr Cadwell to the ground. He somehow fought back but was stabbed at least twice, one blow puncturing a lung. "He managed to crawl about 250 yards back to the club," said Max Clifford, Spearmint Rhino's publicist. Mr Cadwell was lucky: he was rushed to hospital and lived. His assailants made off with just £60.
A year later, nobody has been charged for the crime. Another victim of an unprovoked assault? The police don't think so. They suspect this was no ordinary street robbery, that Mr Cadwell was targeted by associates of a notorious north London crime family in a feud with his company.
Full 2,135-word article available via Evening Standard library (not available online).
Labels: Strip Club Wars
