Scarz & Barz's employee says owner was touchy feely

The woman who was offered an apprenticeship by Paul Saunders after she had her nipples pierced by him at his ‘Scarz & Barz” studio in Eagle Street, Ipswich, said she had heard him tell female customers to give him a hug.

“People would be uncomfortable and he would still insist,” said the witness who gave her evidence from behind a screen at Ipswich Crown Court.

She claimed that Saunders would put pressure on customers who came to the studio to have their nipples pierced to have both done when they only came in for one.

She said that a lot of the studio’s customers were teenage girls from Suffolk New College.

She claimed that after Saunders pierced her nipples he told her she had “nice boobs” .

Questioned by defence counsel Vanessa Marshall KC she denied that he had in fact said the bars in her nipples looked nice.

She said she had left the studio after two or three years following a row after a customer complained to her about Saunders.

She said another employee had left her job after finding Saunders naked in his flat after a customer had walked out of the room.

Saunders , 51, of Eagle Street, has denied three offences of rape, six offences of sexual assault and one of assault by penetration.

The offences relate to nine women and are alleged to have been committed between June 2012 and February 2020.

The court previously heard that when Saunders was interviewed by police he denied sexually assaulting customers and said that any sexual intercourse that took place was consensual.

It has been alleged that Saunders was a “cunning and manipulative sexual predator” who preyed on young customers.

He  allegedly exploited the weaknesses of women who trusted him while carrying out intimate piercings.

“He was a personality, a man of status and a man to be trusted, but unbeknown to many, something sinister lurked behind. Mr Saunders was sexually aroused by his work,” said Rossano Scamardella KC, prosecuting.