Scots businessman who ran brothel from notorious Edinburgh sauna spared jail sentence

Ian Douglas Haig operated the illegal sex business from the Scorpio Leisure premises in the Leith area of the capital between 2016 and 2022.

Haig, 82, made a living from the brothel by charging patrons an entry fee and being paid a flat rate by the sex workers for renting out one of the sauna’s five bedrooms.

The pensioner was found to be running the sex den after a woman died within the premises leading to a police investigation into the circumstances of the death in April 2022.

Officers interviewed staff and clients who had attended the sauna and discovered the business was also being used for prostitution purposes.

Haig was arrested and charged and pleaded guilty to allowing the sauna to be used as a brothel between March 1, 2016 and April 30, 2022 when he appeared on indictment at the capital’s sheriff court last month.

The company director was back in the dock for sentencing on Tuesday where Sheriff Fergus Thomson said he would be stepping back from a custodial sentence and instead issued a restriction of liberty order.

The OAP was ordered to wear an electronic tag on his ankle and stay within his home address between 7pm and 7am for the next 90 days.

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A Crown motion for a proceeds of crime order was continued to October.

Previously a written narration was read out to the court describing Haig, of the capital's New Town, as the “the long standing tenant” and “the operator of the business known as Scorpio Leisure”.

The narration stated: “Scorpio Leisure was offering paying customers massage services, advertised itself as a sauna and operated as a brothel.”

The court was told patrons entered the sauna through a locked inner door and the inside of the building included a lounge, a staff kitchen with 16 lockers, a shower area and changing room.

The narration read: “There were five rooms all containing a bed, mirrors on the walls, a corner bath and showers. The rooms contained stocks of wipes, lubricants and shower gel.”

The court heard a woman passed away in non-suspicious circumstances within the sauna on April 30, 2022 sparking a police investigation.

A number of women working at the sauna were interviewed and said men attending the brothel paid Haig an entrance fee of £20 per person for a 30 minutes session and £35 for 90 minutes.

The narration detailed the brothel’s pricing structure stating customers paid the women £50 for a 30 minute appointment and £75 for 90 minutes.

The court was told the sex workers would then pay Haig £10 per client for the use of one of the bedrooms.

The narration added: “Clients attending at Scorpio Leisure selected the women at the lounge area then moved to a bedroom.

“Some of those clients provided statements on their interactions with the accused either on arrival or departure and were quite clear the accused knew the premises were being operated as a brothel.”

Nurses from the health charity SACRO regularly attended the premises to “supply condoms and offer sexual health advice and support to the women working there”.

Lawyer Nigel Bruce, defending, said his client was involved in “an unusual type of case” and that he had been previously investigated for a similar offence but not prosecuted in 2013.

Mr Bruce said: “Everyone in Edinburgh knew this place was run as a brothel including the police, the Crown authorities and social workers.

“SACRO regularly attended there and police officers were regularly in attendance and it was well known the premises were being operated as a brothel.

“He seems to have taken pride in his job and he seems to have a care for the welfare of the women who essentially were self-employed.”

The solicitor added there had been “no coercion or exploitation involved” of the women working at the sauna.

Haig, who used to be in the merchant navy, was the sole shareholder of Darrock Ltd before the company was dissolved earlier this year.