Three men who admitted running an organised prostitution ring have been ordered to repay nearly a quarter of a million pounds.
Kent Police launched an investigation into the Mayfair Girls escort agency after thousands of business cards were found at the home of a man arrested in Kings Hill in July 2017.
Enquiries revealed the agency was an online front for organised prostitution, with the men behind it earning 30% commission for every appointment arranged. The sex workers involved had applied to join the agency but no checks were made on their age or welfare including if they were being controlled or exploited by others.
Three men aged 41,39 and 32 together with a fourth man pleaded guilty to conspiracy to control prostitution for gain and were sentenced in the summer of 2022, with the 41-year-old being jailed for two-and-a-half years and the others receiving suspended sentences.
Meanwhile, further enquiries were being carried out by financial investigators from Kent Police’s Proceeds of Crime Team who applied for confiscation orders to be made in respect of the money each offender earned from their illegal activities.
- A man aged 41, from Kings Hill, was found in possession of around £68,000 cash and a 1kg gold bar now worth around £51,000 following his arrest for an unrelated offence in July 2017. At Woolwich Crown Court on Thursday 27 April 2023 he was ordered to repay a total of £124,773 within three months or face a further two years’ imprisonment and still have to pay.
- A man aged 39, from Swanscombe, was ordered to pay back £79,447 within three months or be jailed for 18 months at a hearing at the same court on Tuesday 2 May.
- A man aged 32, from Swanscombe, was ordered to pay back £42,600 within three months or receive a year in custody. His hearing was also at Woolwich Crown Court on 2 May.
Detective Inspector David Godfrey said: ‘The men involved in this prostitution ring clearly made vast sums of money from the sex workers they advertised, sparing little to no thought for who they were or how vulnerable they may have been. They provided a faceless platform for sexual exploitation that could have placed many women and girls at great risk.
‘Our financial investigators go to great lengths to ensure offenders cannot continue to reap the rewards of their ill-gotten gains, and the value of the confiscation orders secured in this case represents yet another significant achievement for the Proceeds of Crime Team.’
