Three women have been convicted of helping to run a “well-organised and professional” brothel operation.
Yan Zhu, 47, Chun Shao, 55, and 49-year-old Feng Lin had all denied an offence of controlling prostitution for gain between December 1, 2020, and February 18, 2021, at the start of their trial at Maidstone Crown Court last month.
Zhu, however, later changed her plea to guilty before the end of the prosecution’s case while Shao and Lin were found guilty today (August 20) by the jury.
Shao was also convicted of an offence of money-laundering, namely possessing criminal property – cash in the sum of £55,501, which she had transferred to bank accounts overseas.
The court had been told that although Zhu and her two co-defendants were “miles away from the action” and not sex workers themselves, each played a part by “directing, controlling and taking money” during a two-and-a-half month period.
It was a number of online advertisements – sharing the same language and pictures – placed with the likes of websites Vivastreet and Gumtree that first attracted police attention and ultimately led to raids on the women’s London homes on February 17, 2021.
At the two addresses, officers found multiple phones, thousands in cash, passports, and a ledger and computer files detailing brothel locations, phone lines, the number of customers and the daily takings.
There was also evidence of Shao having wired more than £55,000 from her Monzo account to several accounts in China but where the trail for the police investigation “went dark”, said prosecutor Andrew Bousfield.
Following her arrest, however, Shao told police she was paid £120 a week to manage phone lines and, although she knew she was arranging for customers to visit brothels, she said she did not realise it was illegal to do so in England.
Opening the case against the three women, Mr Bousfield told the court: “It wasn’t these defendants who were prostitutes themselves – they were simply directing, controlling and taking the money.
“This was a well-organised, professional operation, and the defendants were miles away from the action.”
Referring to the size of the illicit activity, he added: “When you see the financial evidence, you will understand the scale of the operation and the potential profit.”
Detailing each of the defendant’s particular involvement, Mr Bousfield explained it was the prosecution’s case that Zhu had a “central role” which included her placing and paying for the online adverts, as well as arranging payment for renting properties to be used as brothels.
Four were located at properties in Fort Pitt Street, Chatham, and Windsor Court in Gillingham, as well as McKenzie Court and Cavendish Place in Maidstone, the jury heard.
As well as the cash discovered at Zhu’s flat in Western Gateway, Newham, east London, police also found a bank card in a false name which the prosecution said she used to pay for the adverts and brothel rentals.
Zhu placed 139 adverts for sexual services on Vivastreet alone, covering nine counties and with 42 different phone numbers for customers to contact, the court heard.
However, Mr Bousfield explained that in order to circumvent Gumtree’s stricter policy, the services were referred to as massages, with 195 adverts placed in relation to one address alone.
While Zhu was said to be in a “management position,” her co-accused were described as playing secondary roles.
Shao was a “call handler and controller” working for Zhu and responsible for “communication, appointments and keeping records of the money made”.
Lin, the court was told, communicated with customers and controlled sex workers “from Wolverhampton to Greenwich”.
When police raided their home in Godfrey Hill, Woolwich, south east London, Shao ran from the house before being detained by chasing officers in the street.
Furthermore, the door to her ground-floor room – or office as it was described by the prosecution – was locked and had to be forced open with a battering ram.
None of the three women gave evidence to the court.
At the start of the trial, both Lin and Shao faced a further charge of money-laundering in relation to £5,360 cash found at their home – £4,000 of which was in an unlocked safe in Shao’s room – but this was subsequently ordered by Judge Philip St.John-Stevens to be left on file.
The jury was also discharged from considering an offence of possessing identification documents belonging to others, which Shao and Lin also denied.
A second charge faced by Zhu of money-laundering in respect of £36,782 found during the police raid on her home was ordered to be left on the court file.
The three women were released on bail until they are sentenced on a date yet to be decided.
