Brothel madam jailed after raid

Yan Yang

A BROTHEL madam is today waking up to ten months in jail after she was arrested following a police raid at an Ipswich house.

Fifty-year-old Yan Yang rented a house in Ashmere Grove in Ipswich and initially had just one girl working for her but recruited two further girls from London after advertising in a Chinese newspaper for masseuses, Ipswich Crown Court was told.

When the girls arrived by train from London Yang arranged for a taxi to take them to Ashmere Grove and on their arrival one of them was required to provide sexual services for eight clients before she finished work at midnight, said Samantha Leigh, prosecuting.

The girl was paid £160 by Yang and received £40 in tips.

The following day the girls were taken into Ipswich by Yang to buy underwear and the police were called after there was a problem with payment.

After speaking to the girls police officers, armed with a search warrant, went to Ashmere Grove and after being let in by Yang they discovered a girl with a paying client, said Miss Leigh.

During a search of the premises officers found a large number of condoms and an investigation of Yang's financial records revealed that she had paid £1,100 into her bank account that day and had transferred £8,000 to China.

Miss Leigh said Yang had paid the rent and council tax on the Ashmere Grove premises and the mobile telephone number used in advertisements was hers.

Yang admitted keeping a brothel, controlling a prostitute for gain, trafficking within the UK for sexual exploitation, possessing criminal property and removing £8,000 criminal property from the UK.

Jailing her for ten months Judge Peter Fenn accepted that she had not coerced or corrupted the girls working for her and they had not been under-age.

He said an aggravating factor of the case was the amount of money she had made out of the girls who were working for her.

Roger Thomson for Yang said she had married an Englishman who had subsequently died and she had come to Ipswich after answering an ad for someone to set up a massage parlour.

She initially had one girl working for her and then recruited two others from London. “They weren't tricked,” he said “All parties were willing and consensual.”