TWO lap dancers from Southampton have been accused of helping to kidnap a club boss who owed them £42,000 for their services during a horse racing festival.

The dancers, along with two other women, are alleged to have enlisted the help of two Southampton brothers to act as “heavies” to ensure they got their money back.

A court heard that their alleged victim was subjected to violence and threats, and was robbed of his £4,650 Breitling watch during his ordeal.

Dancers Rachel Goodchild, 24, of May Road, Southampton and Mandy-Laura Cool, 29, of Warren Close, Southampton, were joined in the dock by brothers Robert Morris, 26, of Thornbury Avenue, Southampton and Alexander Morris, 22, of Itchen View, Southampton, on charges of kidnap.

Charlotte Devaney, 34, from London and Stephanie Pye, 30, from Sutton Coldfield, were also facing kidnapping charges.

The prosecution claim that the four women hatched the plot to kidnap a club boss after he failed to pay them thousands of pounds after his lap dancing venture was closed down.

The court heard that he had recruited the four women to dance in a room at the Embassy Club in Cheltenham during the four-day National Hunt Festival last March.

But during the festival the police raided the premises and closed down the lap dancing venue.

On the same day the women made a complaint to police that they had not been paid the £42,000 they said the 33-year-old businessman owed them. He had refused because the operation had been shut down, the court heard.

So in a bid to recoup the money, it is alleged, the women then decided to recruit the two brothers to carry out a kidnap.

Prosecutor Martin Steen told the court: “Some of the defendants were owed money by the victim. We say he was kidnapped and subjected to various forms of violence and threats. Items were taken from him in a robbery.

“It is not disputed by the Crown that the ladies in question were owed money by the victim.”

Barrister Audrey Archer, representing Goodchild, said that she is taking civil court action against the club boss for recovery of the money she claims he still owes her. The other women were already taking similar court action, she said.

All but Pye pleaded not guilty to the charge at Gloucester Crown Court. Pye’s lawyer asked for the charge not to be put to her because she intends to mount a legal argument asking for it to be dropped.

The Morris brothers also denied robbing the businessman of a Breitling watch and £60 in cash on the same date.

Alexander Morris further denied having a bladed article, a Stanley knife, in a public place – the Northway Trading Estate at Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, where their alleged victim works.

A date for the trial, which is expected to last more than two weeks at Bristol Crown Court, is yet to be fixed.

All defendants were released on bail.

Judge William Hart made it a condition of bail that the defendants must not contact the alleged victim except through solicitors.