Kevin Booth, a millionaire racing tipster who abused vulnerable women in an underground chamber at his remote Highland lodge, has lost an appeal against a global travel ban imposed on him last year. Booth recruited women to work at his isolated Lochdhu Lodge in Caithness, where he subjected them to so-called "punishment beatings" in a dungeon containing an empty coffin, life-size Egyptian figures and a metal bench, and filmed the attacks. The travel ban forms part of a wider civil action pursued after criminal proceedings against him were discontinued, and its confirmation on appeal means the restrictions on his movements and future employment of women remain in force.

Former Police Scotland chief constable Sir Iain Livingstone raised the civil action after Booth's house was searched in 2019 but prosecutors dropped proceedings in 2021, leading Wick Sheriff Court to impose a five-year Trafficking and Exploitation Order requiring Booth to surrender his passport and give police 14 days' notice before hiring female staff. The Sheriff Appeal Court in Edinburgh rejected arguments that the original sheriff had erred in law, upholding findings that between 1998 and 2022 Booth recruited and isolated women before subjecting them to violent beatings and coerced sexual acts, described by the sentencing sheriff as "utterly harrowing". Booth has a long history of offending, including a 1991 caning case involving children, a 2002 conviction for indecently assaulting his Brazilian au pair, and a more recent conviction for indecent communication for which he was placed on the Sex Offenders Register and fined £2,000 compensation.