Web site porn blackmail charge may be dropped

A publisher accused of trying to blackmail the School Dinners restaurant in London by means of a pornographic Internet Web site could have charges against him dropped.

Tim Chittenden, for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), told stipendiary magistrate Alan Baldwin that a further four-week adjournment had been agreed with the defence to give the CPS time to review the evidence.

The case was first adjourned in July to give the prosecution the chance to view the images on the Web site of men spanking naked girls. The site went under the name School Dinners (Caterer, 30 July, page 16).

Baldwin formally bailed 45-year-old David Brown in his absence until 21 October, when the prosecution is expected to have reached a decision.

Brown, of Orpington, Kent, was arrested in April at the Sherlock Holmes hotel, near the School Dinners restaurant in Baker Street. He is charged with making an unwarranted demand for £2,000 with menaces, by setting up the Web site and threatening to include hard-core porn unless the restaurant bought the site.

The School Dinners restaurant is well known for having waitresses dressed as schoolgirls who sometimes playfully "spank" customers.