Boss spent £1/2m on call girl

Call girl: Peter Lee spent £493,000 on a prostitute

Businessman Peter Lee built up a successful bus company and a happy marriage with two children. He had homes in London and Durham, employed 170 people and even advised ministers on transport matters.

But all the time the 51-year-old was siphoning money from the company to pay for a £1,000 a night call-girl. Eventually he spent £493,000 on the prostitute and another £97,000 on two other mistress.

Today Lee was facing jail after admitting charges of theft, forgery and false accounting. His travel firm has crashed and his staff have all lost their jobs.

He became obsessed with the call-girl called Tia, lavishing her with cash and gifts. When his personal money ran out he began diverting funds from his company, Durham Travel Services.

Lee will be sentenced for his crimes at Durham Crown Court tomorrow.

To all who met him, the businessman was a pillar of respectability. But his addiction to sex with Tia cost him his wife and the respect of his children.

In total, he squandered £493,000 on Tia over four years, giving presents such as a BMW car.

Lee's plight is a far cry from the late 1980s when he launched Durham Travel Services, running bus and coach operations across the UK and the Continent.

He formed the company in a management buy-out of the former United bus firm, earning a salary of £125,000 a year.

With fellow director Eric Bowerbank, who had nothing to do with Lee's secret life, they developed the firm and in 1993 bought coach operator York Pullman.

In 1997, they gained a contract with Nexus to operate a "care call" service for travellers with disabilities.

The next year the company, with a turnover of £5m in 2000 and profits of £1m, was awarded the Coach Marque on behalf of the Government and the British Tourist Authority.

Lee served on the committee of the Government-backed Disabled Persons' Transport Advisory Committee. But then his obsession with the call girl began while visiting London and for four years he siphoned £600,000 from the company to pay for his lifestyle. £493,000 went on Tia, £60,000 to another woman and £37,000 to a third with whom he had a child. Neither of these women was a prostitute.

Then while Lee was on holiday a query was made about the firm's accounts. The police were called and in August 2002 the firm went into liquidation.

Mr Bowerbank said: "I, like others, feel utterly betrayed. I lost the business I'd worked hard to build up over 14 years.

Like many other people in the company, I lost my livelihood."

He added he felt "utterly sorry" for Lee's family.

A source close to the case said: "Peter Lee was a very successful, self-made man but through greed and his obsession with one particular vice girl he threw it away and sent his company into liquidation.

"He spent almost half a million pounds on a £1,000-a-night prostitute, visiting her time and time again.

"At one time he was a successful, happily married family man with two kids.

"Now he's ruined and, depending on the way the judge looks at the case, could well lose his liberty."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in