A 24-year-old woman has been jailed for nine years after meeting men on dating apps then luring them to hotel rooms where they were tied up, assaulted and robbed in violent scams that left victims seriously harmed and terrified, one of whom was threatened with scissors and another burned with a hot iron during the ordeal.

Caprice Brown, who worked as a sex worker and had no fixed address, targeted two men she met through apps including Tinder and Badoo in 2020, Birmingham Crown Court heard, with the first attack taking place at the Jurys Inn in Birmingham after she posed as a woman named Zara on a dating site.

In the first incident the victim thought he was meeting someone for a consensual encounter but after taking a shower he was bound with masking tape by Brown and an accomplice, then threatened when he could not remember his phone password, with a heated iron pressed against his arm.

Prosecutors said the victim jumped in shock and tried to free himself, and was punched in the face while Brown pressed the hot iron against his shoulder and back as a noise complaint from another guest interrupted the attack. Items including the man’s wallet and Aston Villa season ticket were stolen, and his bank details were later used to buy a nearly £1,000 smartphone, the court heard.

A second victim was targeted in Coventry at the Britannia Hotel after connecting with someone calling herself Maia on Tinder, and was restrained with handcuffs and tape before Brown and her accomplice threatened him with scissors to force access to his mobile phone.

Despite being bound and gagged the man managed to escape and get help, police said, and Brown later admitted charges including robbery, fraud and assaulting an emergency worker.

Her accomplice in the second attack, Karissa Alfrez (now Damani Scott-Slue), 25, was convicted of robbery at trial and received a six-year prison sentence.

During sentencing, Judge Simon Drew KC described the offences as “really nasty offences”, noting the profound impact on the victims, including serious physical harm and extreme degradation suffered during the planned attacks.