A sex worker and mother has been handed a nine-year prison sentence for a string of violent robberies where she tied up men in hotel rooms, beating them and stealing their money.
Vicious Attacks During Pandemic Isolation
Caprice Brown, now 25, lured her first victim, an Aston Villa supporter, to the Jurys Inn on Broad Street in Birmingham city centre in July 2020. She had contacted him on the dating app Badoo, using the alias 'Zara'. Brown arrived at the hotel with an unknown female accomplice, claiming it was for her safety.
Once inside the room, the situation turned violent. The victim was restrained with brown masking tape. When he refused to give the password to his phone, claiming he could not remember it, he was attacked. One of the women pressed a hot iron into his arm, shoulder, face and back, while the other punched him.
The assault was only interrupted when a neighbour banged on the door complaining about the noise. The victim called for help, prompting Brown and her accomplice to flee. They took his wallet, containing his bank card and Aston Villa season ticket.
Second Robbery and Fraudulent Purchases
Later, the victim discovered a fraudulent transaction from his account: a £999 iPhone had been purchased from Argos. Police used the IP address of the handset to trace the purchase back to Brown.
Brown was involved in a second, similar attack just two months later in September 2020. This time, a man was lured to the Britannia Hotel in Coventry via the Tinder website by a woman called 'Maia'. Brown and another accomplice, Karissa Alfrez, burst from the bathroom.
The victim was restrained with masking tape and handcuffs, threatened with scissors, and robbed of his £800 Samsung phone and bank card. He later found £1,000 had been transferred from his account. Alfrez, who now identifies as a man named Damani Scott-Slue, was also convicted for this robbery.
Sentencing and Aftermath
Both offenders were sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on Tuesday, 15 December. Brown, of no fixed address, received a nine-year term after admitting two counts of robbery, plus fraud and assaulting an emergency worker. Scott-Slue, 25, from Handsworth, was found guilty of robbery after a trial and jailed for six years.
Judge Simon Drew KC condemned the "really nasty offences", noting they occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic when people were feeling particularly vulnerable and isolated. He stated the victims had been humiliated by reliving the attacks and that the incident would "never go away" for them.
In a separate incident in January of this year, police located Brown, who was then using the name Hazel Hardy. She resisted arrest and repeatedly kicked a female police officer. The court heard Brown had no previous convictions but had "long-standing vulnerabilities and complex trauma".
Both offenders were told they will serve only 40 per cent of their sentences in custody before being released on licence.
