Elvis fan addicted to call girls faces jail

Lucy Ballinger, Wales on Sunday

AN ELDERLY Elvis impersonator faces jail because his addiction to call girls has left the neighbours all shook up.

Tom Jones has spent a staggering £70,000 on more than 2,000 escorts over the past three years. The 61-year-old says he hires the girls to "keep him company", claiming he suffers from a psychiatric addiction. But fed-up people living next to Mr Jones' one-bedroomed ground-floor flat in Oswestry have appealed to the local council to issue the ageing Romeo with an anti-social behaviour order (ASBO).

And if the ban were to be breached he could end up in prison. Mr Jones told us: "I am lonely. I need company. I have been told by the council that I have got to stop the girls coming round or I will get an ASBO. But I'm just enjoying my old age."

The former Butlins worker spotted an advert in a local newspaper three years ago for call girls, and has been hooked ever since. And last June, the confirmed bachelor even reported one escort to Trading Standards for 'failing to perform to the required standard'. But Mr Jones claims he never has sex with the women he hires. "I have always been a ladies' man and never had many male friends," said Mr Jones."

"I didn't even know what an escort girl was before I had the first one.

"Now I have one at the weekends and others in the week.

"The most I ever paid was £2,300 for a girl to spend two-and-a-half days with me. They were a very enjoyable couple of days indeed.

"I cannot have sex with the girls because I have a medical condition. Instead I phone them up and ask them what they would like to do. Sometimes it is strawberries and champagne, sometimes just a quiet meal with Elvis playing in the background. Occasionally, I sing Are You Lonesome Tonight? to them." His habit costs him a packet, but Mr Jones refuses to reveal how he affords it.

"I am being investigated by the Department for Work and Pensions and my solicitor has advised me not to comment," he said. His neighbours say their lives are being ruined by his activities, with a delegation even turning to their local MP for help.

"There are young families living in this block with kids aged between six months and seven years old," said one neighbour. "When they go out of the front door to play, they come face-to-face with call girls wearing fishnets and mini-skirts. "And you often hear Elvis songs being belted out at full volume during the day and night. The police are here constantly."

Neighbours were recently given nuisance record sheets by housing officers to record Mr Jones' behaviour. The sheets are used by local authorities as an evidence-gathering tool before they take the final step of putting persistent offenders before the courts. A spokesman for Oswestry Borough Council said: "We are investigating a series of allegations from residents in Oswestry about Mr Jones. I can confirm that we have served him with an anti-social behaviour order warning. We are very concerned about the welfare of our residents, and that they are being subjected to this behaviour."

(Odd Spot , Source: IC Network, 4 August 2004)