Dubai sex couple tell police they can't remember getting steamy on the beach

Dubai sex couple tell police they can't remember getting steamy on the beach

By Rebecca Camber, Julie Moult and Andrew Levy
Last updated at 1:56 AM on 11th July 2008

The man at the centre of the Dubai beach sex furore has been named as Vince Acors, a 34-year-old businessman from Kent.

His drunken encounter with fellow Briton Michelle Palmer could land them both in jail for six years.

Mr Acors - nicknamed 'Vince Charming' for his success with the opposite sex - was on a business trip to Dubai when he met Miss Palmer during an all-day drinking binge.

Drunk: Vince Acors and Michelle Palmer were arrested after being allegedly caught having sex on a Dubai beach. They met hours earlier at a boozy brunch

Hours later, the father of one was arrested along with the 36-year-old publishing manager after they were caught having sex on a public beach.

Yesterday the pair were anxiously waiting to hear whether they will be charged in relation to their behaviour.

They face between three months and six years in jail, plus a fine and deportation for flouting the strict ban on sex outside marriage in the Muslim emirate.

Mr Acors, a telecoms firm director from Bromley who has a seven-year-old son with his former partner, was said to be 'beside himself with worry' yesterday after being told he cannot leave the country until police end their investigation.

The pair have both told police that they were so drunk they cannot even remember the sexual encounter in the early hours of Saturday. The case has now been passed from the Dubai police force to the prosecution service, which has to decide whether there is a case against them.

Strict: Jumeirah Beach, where the pair were caught, is a popular spot for ex-pats and holidaymakers but they have to take care not to break the Muslim state's stringent rules on decency

It is understood that the pair's legal advisers have already lobbied the prosecutor not to continue - a perfectly normal legal manoeuvre in the emirate.

Mr Acors and Miss Palmer, who has since been sacked from ITP Publishing Group, spent much of yesterday in meetings with lawyers recommended to them from the British Embassy.

They have been told that they may have to wait up to three weeks until any court appearance. However, a source close to the pair revealed that they are 'quietly hopeful' that the charges will not reach court at all.

Yesterday Miss Palmer's former fiancé sprung to her defence. Journalist Max Paterson, 26, planned to marry Miss Palmer and the couple lived together in Peterborough after meeting through work contacts.

When the pair broke up, Miss Palmer wanted a new start and left Key Publishing, an aviation magazine company, to take the job with ITP Publishing in Dubai a year ago.

Mr Paterson, who now lives in London with a new girlfriend, said: 'I went out to my local newsagent on Wednesday and I saw the story all over the paper. I was totally shocked by what I read, I just could not believe it. This is not theMichelle that I knew and planned to marry.

'It is all completely out of character for her. She's being painted as an awful person, but that's just not the case. I know her parents must be worried sick for her.'

Yesterday Miss Palmer's parents, Jim, 68, and Margaret, 65, who are both retired, had left their ?150,000 terraced home in the village of Oakham, Rutland, to fly to Dubai to be with their daughter, neighbours said.

The beach where police caught Miss Palmer and Mr Acors having sex is popular with expatriates and holidaymakers.

They had met hours earlier at a champagne brunch at Le Meridien Hotel, where Miss Palmer got extremely drunk before going for a walk along the shore with her companion.

A police officer later spotted the pair having sex on the sand and let them off with a caution. But they ignored the warning and were arrested when the officer returned to the scene.

According to police sources, Miss Palmer launched an angry tirade at the policeman after being disturbed for a second time.

She is alleged to have hurled abuse and tried to hit him with her high-heeled shoe before being restrained and taken to a cell.

A source close to the couple said: 'Michelle and Vince woke up in police cells with monster hangovers, facing six years in jail.

'Vince is beside himself with worry - he never intended to offend anyone. And Michelle is absolutely devastated.'

Yesterday neighbours described Mr Acors as a polite, successful businessman.