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too intimidated to testify against them in court, but Boothby himself stood up in the House of Lords and demanded to know how long the police intended keeping the Krays in custody. The only explanation for this behaviour, which resulted in uproar, is that the Krays were blackmailing Boothby. After a farcical trial and retrial (which found in favour of the defendants), the Krays were released. The twins maintained their grip over the establishment for another three years until they were eventually arrested and convicted in 1968 for the murder of a minor gang member, Jack ‘the Hat’ McVitie.
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    While the Krays and other criminal gangs represented the most sensational aspects of London’s criminal underworld, the prostitutes who worked for them continued to take massive risks with their personal safety and face arrest and imprisonment on a daily basis. The most vulnerable of these women were those who worked in Soho, which had continued to be the heart of the red-light district. In the 1940s and 50s, the girls worked the streets in time-honoured fashion. With the introduction of the Sexual Offences Act 1956 and the Street Offences Act 1959, they were compelled to change their tactics.
    The Sexual Offences Act criminalized any house or flat ‘resorted to or used by more than one woman for the purposes of prostitution’ and made it illegal to live off immoral earnings (as in the case of Stephen Ward). Unfortunately, this law was no respecter of relationships, so anybody whom the woman supported – be it mother, children or boyfriend – was liable to the charge. 12 Meanwhile, the Street Offences Act was designed to force prostitutes off the street in much the same way as the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885. Under the Street Offences Act, a woman could be convicted of soliciting on the ‘uncorroborated word of a single policeman’. ‘Soliciting’ was interpreted as covering ‘not only spoken words but also various movements of the face, body and limbs such as a smile, a wink, making a gesture and beckoning or wriggling the body in a way that indicates an invitation to prostitution’. After two cautions, a woman could be labelled ‘a common prostitute’, a description which stayed on her record for life and could be read out in court, even during a rape or child-custody case. 13
    Challenged by these draconian new regulations, London’s whores and their pimps hit on a solution. Instead of patrolling the streets, they took single rooms referred to as ‘walk-ups’ and advertised their services on the doorway, just as the Roman prostitutes had done two millennia earlier. There were new descriptions for old acts: ‘French polishing’ (fellatio) was a favourite, while punters were also offered ‘French lessons’ or tempted with a little postcard that announced ‘Large Chest for Sale’. Prostitutes employed a maid, often a retired prostitute, whose task was to usher the punter upstairs and see him out again after the transaction had been completed.
    One woman who learnt her trade in Soho was Cynthia Payne, or ‘Madam Cyn’. But when the authorities began to crack down on prostitution in central London, she cannily moved her operation to the suburbs, far from prying eyes. However, even Cynthia did not escape detection. In 1978, police raided her house in Ambleside Avenue, Streatham. Inside, they found a cross between a vicarage tea party and an orgy in full swing, with queues of middle-aged and elderly men, including clergymen, MPs and lawyers, waiting to exchange their ‘luncheon vouchers’ for food, drink, strip shows and a trip upstairs with the girl of their choice. Charged with running the biggest disorderly house in London, ‘Madam Cyn’ was sentenced to eighteen months in prison (reduced on appeal to six months and a fine). Cynthia, whose motto really should have been ‘Help the Aged’, swiftly became