§ 84. Mr. Stokesasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, in view of the fact that Mme. Verlet was fined at Bow Street on 12th September, 1955, for keeping a brothel at 39 Curzon Street, W., and in view of the disclosures at Tournai during the trial of the Messina brothers that this house belongs to them and is still being used for the same purpose, what action he proposes to take.
§ Major Lloyd-GeorgeSo far as the police are aware these premises are not at present being used in contravention of the law.
§ 85. Mr. Stokesasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that No. 10 Bentinck Street, owned by a Mrs. Frank and administered for her by a man named Joseph Craig, is being used as a house for improper purposes; and, in view of the fact that Joseph Craig was recently convicted and fined at Marlborough Street Police Court for permitting the premises to be so used, what action he proposes to take as the premises are still used for the same purpose.
§ Major Lloyd-GeorgeI am informed that the police have no evidence that these premises are at present being used for improper purposes.
§ 86. Mr. Stokesasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that the two brothers, Michael and Anthony de Bono, recently convicted 67W in the West London Police Court of living on the immoral earnings of a woman, are blood brothers of the Messina brothers né de Bono, now on trial at Tournai for keeping brothels and running the white slave traffic; whether he is satisfied that the proceeds of the four brothels, 7 Stafford Street, 36 Shepherd Market (upper floors), 39 Curzon Street, and 12 Chesterfield Street, are not being transmitted to the Messinas through the younger de Bonos; and if he will make a statement.
§ Major Lloyd-GeorgeI understand that the police have no evidence at present to justify any further prosecution of Michael and Anthony de Bono.
§ Mr. Stokesasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he now proposes to take, in view of the revelations at Tournai last week during the trial of the Messina brothers that 39, Curzon Street, 12, Chesterfield Terrace, 7, Stafford Street, and 36, Shepherd Market, all belong to the Messinas and are being used as brothels under the control of mesdames employed by the Messina brothers.
§ Mr. Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department why, in view of the fact that in the evidence now being submitted in the vice trial in Belgium, a Scotland Yard officer has stated that the Metropolitan Police had, and have, evidence that five addresses in Mayfair were being used as brothels, no action has been taken by the police against those responsible.
§ Major Lloyd-GeorgeIn giving evidence at Tournai, an officer of the Metropolitan Police stated that, of four premises mentioned to him, proceedings had in the past been taken in respect of two houses which had then been held to be brothels. There is no evidence that any of these houses is at present being used as a brothel.