A predatory 'pimp' has pleaded guilty to encouraging two teenage girls to go into 'sex work' using 'drugs, coercion and violence'.
Christopher Oates 'wooed them, charmed them, gave them cannabis, ecstasy and cocaine and introduced them to Manchester’s red-light district where they joined the desperate women selling themselves on street corners', prosecutors previously told Manchester Crown Court.
The 44-year-old, from Stockport, initially denied seven charges including sexual activity with a child and inciting child prostitution concerning two 'vulnerable' teenage girls. After three days of the trial, he has today, March 6, changed his plea to guilty to offences of causing or inciting child prostitution, possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence in respect one one victim and causing or inciting prostitution for gain in respect of a second victim.
Previously opening the case, prosecutor Gwen Henshaw told a jury that Oates, also known as ‘Nails ’because he could scoop cocaine with his 'pinkie' finger, is a ‘predatory man’ who used drugs, coercion and violence to sexually exploit and ‘pimp’ the two girls.
One of the victims was homeless and then living in care and was 'besotted' with the defendant as she thought he was her 'boyfriend'. The second was doing bar work and hanging out in bars despite being underage', the jurors were told. His accusers, now adults who cannot be named for legal reasons, had 'both had a difficult childhood'.
Ms Henshaw said: "Christopher Oates identified their vulnerability. He took the opportunity to use them for his own purposes. He wooed them, charmed them, gave them cannabis, ecstasy and cocaine and introduced them to Manchester’s red-light district where they joined the desperate women selling themselves on street corners."
The court heard that he had sex with one of his victims, encouraged her to believe he was her 'boyfriend' telling her she was 'beautiful' and that he would 'look after her and protect her'.
"She trusted him, even when others warned her that she was being used. She was proud that he was her 'boyfriend'. She told care workers and her mum, in fact anyone who would listen about her boyfriend 'Chris'," said Ms Henshaw.
Oates 'convinced' the girl, then aged under 16, that she 'could earn good money selling herself on the streets' and that she would 'make a killing'.
"Vulnerable and besotted, she believed him and started working the streets, under the misapprehension that he was watching over and protecting her, when in reality he was keeping a note of the number of cars she got into and taking her earnings from her when she returned," said Miss Henshaw.
The second victim recalled that he would arrange for her to meet men and 'engage in sexual acts for money' when she was a teenager. "She too was wooed, charmed and given drugs for her compliance, only to have her earnings taken," said Miss Henshaw.
“In short, he was their 'pimp'. No doubt their youth made them a profitable commodity for him, one that he was keen to maintain," said the prosecutor.
The jurors heard that when his 'charm and attention, bullying and cajoling didn’t work anymore' he held a gun to the head of the girl who believed he was her boyfriend.
The two women shared their stories 'only with a handful of people' over the years until Greater Manchester Police launched Operation Green Jacket in 2019 to investigate child exploitation. One of the women contacted police after seeing a Facebook post about the op and the second was also later tracked down.
Oates of the women recalled, aged under 16, first seeing the defendant in a bar in Manchester and said he was 'very tall, slim, with a prominent jawline and cheek bones and very good looking'. The woman also recalled he had a long 'pinkie' finger which he used to 'scoop or key' cocaine. He was 'flash' with money' and 'super charming in the beginning' and told her she was beautiful 'all the time'.
In a video interview with police, the woman said she quickly started a 'relationship' with him and believed he was her 'boyfriend'. He later told her 'you know you’re so beautiful you would make a killing' and 'I’ll watch you, it’s only sex'.
He would also stand nearby noting down registration plates of cars she got 'so she would be safe' and then she would hand over the money she earned to him some of which he handed back 'to spend on herself'.
After three days of his trial, Oates, pleaded guilty to causing or inciting child prostitution, possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence in relation to the first victim and alternative count of causing or inciting prostitution for gain in relation to the second victim. The other offences were asked to lie on the file.
Oates, of no fixed address, will be sentenced on May 9. He was remanded into custody.
