For five weeks, the masseur had stood in the dock listening to a litany of allegations so similar the trial was likened to the film Groundhog Day. The sheer scale of the numbers involved suggested that this was, if not a fait accompli, then at least an open and shut case.
According to the prosecution Mr Pytlarz was a sexual predator who abused women under the guise of massage. And, really, how could 18 women be wrong? The jury found him unanimously not guilty on every count. Yet even an innocent verdict cannot simply make everything right again. He remained powerless and bewildered as the police sent letters to every client he had ever treated and the number of woman claiming sexual assault mounted by the day. Although he is now free β celebrating his first night with champagne, melon and parma ham β Mr Pytlarz is terrified that the police will come knocking at his door with further allegations.
Cleared: How the story was reported after the London court verdict last week. Dressed in a tailored, pin-striped suit, he has a gentle manner and is still clearly dumbfounded by all that has happened since the first allegation two-and-a-half years ago. When I massage I really focus, feel the vibes, the energy. It is not like the massages the spas provide with a little hand waving around. I think they have the wrong idea as to what real massage is.
A real massage is a very powerful thing. When I was arrested I was devastated. And when I was standing in court I felt shamed Relief: Mr Pytlarz with his wife and solicitor Beverley Hamblin. He bowed to the jury before leaving the dock after his five-week trial. So can you imagine what it was like, closed in this room 6ft long, 5ft wide. It was like hell. A devout Roman Catholic, he originally wanted to become a priest but instead studied at the Academy of Physical Education in Warsaw, graduating top of his year.
He became a sports teacher and then worked at the Marriott Hotel in Warsaw as a personal trainer and masseur. At the end, I shook his hand. I looked after him for the last year and a half of his life.
