FLASHING a warm smile, the tall stranger squeezes in beside a woman at the bar.

She looks in her mid-30s and her skinny jeans and heels suggest she’s dressed for a fun night out.

He eyes her mousy cropped hair and low-cut top with approval and she smiles back.

It’s a busy night and as they wait to be served, they get chatting.

Before long, they’re laughing together and the woman rests a flirtatious hand on the man’s arm.

In for the kill ... night out antics

Alamy

It’s a scene played out in pubs and clubs across the land every weekend.

But this flirtation is different. Because the woman is married and she has no clue her husband is paying the muscle-bound hunk to record their chat.

Richard Martinez is a honey trap, earning £300 a night to test the fidelity of wives and girlfriends.

“I act as the eyes and ears of any anxious man who suspects his partner of cheating,” says Richard, 38, from Wallington, Surrey. “I offer proof if his wife or girlfriend will stray.”

Almost every weekend, Richard heads to a location arranged with a client and waits for the “target”.

Usually aged from her late 20s to early 40s, the woman will be with two or three mates and dressed for a girls’ night out.

She will normally be showing a lot of leg or cleavage but rarely both, reckons Richard. And her looks will vary vastly.

At some point, Richard will catch the woman’s eye and smile, before moving in to tempt her into four “cheating” crimes.

She fails his test if she says she is single, swaps phone numbers, arranges a date or lunges at him.

About half the women he meets open the conversation themselves but Richard has plenty of lines ready if they don’t.

Their chat can last for hours or just minutes if the target gives him the cold shoulder. Of course, many women are too nice to, so talk for a while out of politeness.

It sounds a lot like entrapment but Richard stresses: “What I do is enticement, not entrapment. I’m not encouraging women to do something they wouldn’t otherwise do.

“I never touch a target or force her to talk to me. Ideally, she’d speak first but if I do have to initiate conversation, I’ll be more chatty than flirtatious and just try to react to things she says.

Honey honey ... Richard is a male trap

“Plying my trade on drunk targets is also against the rules.”

Nearly half the women Richard tests take the bait. A few lean in for a kiss and one or two make a grab for his wedding tackle too.

But it’s all in a night’s work for the former RAF pilot who set up his own detective agency, Expedite, in 1999.

It carries out surveillance and missing persons enquiries, as well as up to 100 honey traps a year.

Richard claims business is booming, particularly around hot summer weekends and the Christmas party season when temptation to stray is strong.

He does most of the honey trap work aimed at women himself, and employs several female honey traps.

“I’d say 80 to 90 per cent of male targets take the bait and some of them are so full-on, leaning in for a snog with the honey trap after a short conversation.

“Whereas far fewer female targets fall for my charms.”

Richard also stresses he only tests people who are already suspected of cheating. The clients themselves vary widely.

“There’s no such thing as an average client,” he says.

“The only thing most of the men who come to me have in common is their insecurity and their looks – for the most part, they’re unattractive with much better looking partners.”

When taking on a new client Richard will first meet up with them to get a photo of the target and personal information – such as their star sign.

“A few weeks later, the client rings to tell me which night their partner will be out on the town without them.

“Usually they want feedback as soon as possible so I’ll phone or meet them the moment the honey trap is finished.

“If the woman has passed the test, they’re relieved. But if she’s failed, there is either anger or disbelief.

“Some men even cry. I try my best to be sympathetic as I’ve been cheated on myself.”

Richard says one honey trap is usually enough, but if it is inconclusive they will carry out another.

If their partner is caught out, some men then want surveillance work.

“I’ve had clients for months at a time and got to know a few so well we’re now mates outside of work,” Richard adds.

“My longest job was for three years where the client was a rich Muslim man with a Western wife. We did surveillance work and she passed several honey traps but he was never satisfied.

“Eventually, he bought a spy phone from me, which let him listen in on his wife’s conversations and get duplicates of every text message she sent and received.

“The sad thing was the worst I ever caught her doing was changing into a skirt at a mate’s house before going out.

“She’d left home in a pair of trousers and he was furious when he found out, calling her names and saying she’d betrayed his trust.

“Funnily enough, she did finally cheat at the end of the three years. My guess is she got fed up of his controlling ways.”

But this man’s story is not unique – Richard says many of his clients are Muslim.

“I think most of them just want to check their wives aren’t getting too Westernised,” he explains.

Richard says he’s never heard of a storybook happy ending to a honey trap but that he has definitely saved a few relationships.

“I remember a Polish client whose wife failed the test. She gave me her number, hinted she’d like to meet up and was very touchy-feely.

“He told me she had cried, apologised and begged for a second chance but he would only take her back if she never did it again.

“He told her he could set another honey trap at any time and she wouldn’t know when. The threat clearly worked as she passed the next one with flying colours.”

So how would Richard feel if his own partner tested him like this?

“I’d be fine! In fact, I’d see it as a compliment she cared enough about our relationship to have me checked.

“I might even consider having a honey trap done on her if we decided to get married – just to be sure.”

Not the most romantic engagement gift, but Richard is adamant there’s nothing wrong with his business.

“I’m providing an incredibly useful service – emotional reassurance.

“I believe I’m helping to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and helping couples stay together if the woman is innocent.”

And if the target is caught out? “Well then, the threat of another honey trap at any time in the future is a great deterrent, isn’t it!”

What do you think? Email us at sunwoman@the-sun.co.uk.

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