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A VETERAN criminal lawyer has revealed he was the man who foiled a massive police campaign to close down Edinburgh’s controversial sex saunas.

Vincent Belmonte brought Police Scotland’s high-profile Operation Windermere shuddering to an embarrassing halt.

The 72-year-old – who has been a solicitor for almost 50 years – represented several saunas facing brothel-keeping charges after a wave of raids by officers.

Belmonte based his case on an investigation he made into claims a deal had been struck between owners, council bosses and police in the 80s.

He launched the probe after reading a newspaper article by ex-Lothian and Borders Deputy Chief Constable Tom Wood.

Last week, we revealed criminal charges against 11 people collapsed after it emerged the sale of sex has effectively been legal in Edinburgh since 1986.

A deal was made at the height of the capital’s Aids epidemic and signed off by the authorities, who agreed saunas could have prostitutes on the premises if they promoted safe sex and supplied condoms.

Belmonte said he hit a stonewall when he asked agencies to confirm the deal – but hit the jackpot when Sheriff Kenneth McIver admitted it existed.

He said: “I was absolutely certain there was a policy and just needed to prove it. The saunas were trading legally in my eyes as a lawyer.

(Image: James Alexander)

“I was told it was a policy that required the agreement of the various agencies in the city at the time. The agencies involved were

Edinburgh City Council, the NHS in Lothian, the police, the prosecution authorities and the environmental health people.

“The former deputy chief constable of Lothian and Borders Police Tom Wood then wrote an article after the raids referring to the existence of a long-standing sauna policy.

“He was also interviewed by the procurator fiscal. When I saw the comments by Mr Wood, that spurred me on.

“I asked all the agencies to send me records of their meetings which had set up the policy.

“None of them cooperated. I then wrote asking to take statements from the people involved in the policy, one of whom was

Sheriff McIver.

“There was a three or four-week silence. I was then told discreetly not to bother preparing for the case as it wasn’t going ahead.

“The procurator fiscal at the Crown Office clearly didn’t have any idea that the policy existed and had never been rescinded.

“I knew then the Crown were in difficulties, so I wasn’t surprised the case was dropped.”

Sheriff McIver helped formulate the agreement in 1986 while working as a senior depute fiscal in the Crown Office.

Though McIver declined to speak to Belmonte, the lawyer then wrote to the Crown Office to tell them about the policy and McIver’s role.

Officials interviewed McIver who confirmed the existence of the policy.

When Belmonte and other lawyers turned up at Edinburgh Sheriff Court for trial a week later in November 2015, they were told that all charges were dropped and the case was not going ahead. Brothel-keeping and prostitution charges against other bosses were also ditched.

Police Scotland’s then Chief Constable Sir Stephen House targeted Edinburgh saunas within weeks of the country’s new single force being introduced in April 2013.

But Belmonte, a partner at Edinburgh firm Belmonte & Co, added: “This agreement provided safety for the girls because they were not on the streets, reduced the issue of prostitute murders, reduced

dangers to clients and protected the health and safety of the public at large.”

(Image: Danny Lawson/PA Wire)

He added that police should have made more checks in June 2013 before they raided the city’s 13 saunas and tried to close them down.

He added: “I think Police Scotland thought they would go and clean up the city, not realising it did not need cleaning up.

“If the authorities had wished to do anything they should have issued notice terminating the policy and dealt with it after that.

“But it’s wrong to let people run a normal business paying tax and VAT then whack them without notice. I thought that was unfair and inappropriate.”Sex workers charity ScotPep, who want to see tolerance zones set up in towns and cities across Scotland, criticised the police operation.

ScotPep chair Nadine Scott added: “Raiding the saunas in 2013 has had many very bad outcomes.

“I’m not surprised at all that this agreement existed and I would be surprised if women at the time didn’t know about it.”

Police have said they remain committed to helping sex workers, while also targeting illegal activity in the industry.

Detective Chief Superintendent Lesley Boal, head of public protection, said: “The focus we have placed on public protection has led to greater awareness and understanding across Scotland of human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of children and adults.

“Our prostitution policy places a strong emphasis on support for those exploited into working in the sex industry but also restates our commitment to tackling criminality within that arena.”

The man responsible for policing in Edinburgh, Chief Superintendent Kenny MacDonald, added: “We will continue to do everything we can to ensure people who may be being exploited in this way have

confidence to seek help and are provided with routes out of prostitution if they so wish.

“Where the police have information regarding organised criminal activity or the coercion or exploitation of individuals, the public would rightly expect us to respond.”

Sheriff McIver declined to comment last week.