Suspended Sentence for Brothel Keepers

A brothel run from a house in Hatfield, Herts, raked in £170,000 in just six months with the money split between the prostitutes themselves and those running it.

But the seedy proceedings were brought to a halt when police raided the house on November 30 last year.

As a result, three people behind the running of the enterprise along with another woman who acted as a "brothel maid" found themselves in St Albans crown court on Friday.

Katrina Baker, 34, from Thistle Grove in Welwyn Garden City and Valentina Janutiene, 37, from Cromer Hyde Lane in Lemsford near Welwyn Garden City were said in court to have been the pair who set up the brothel.

But they were assisted by Janutiene's lover, Anthony Andrew, 46, also from Cromer Hyde Lane in Lemsford, who helped the pair with his accounting and book keeping skills, even preparing projections and forecasts on how the business was likely to do in the future.

Both Baker and Janutiene had themselves worked as prostitutes in the past, as had the fourth person in the dock, 48 year old Sharon Kerrigan from Becketts Close, London NW10.

On the morning of the raid, police found her there working as a brothel maid.

Baker, Janutiene and Kerrigan all appeared for sentence having admitted a charge of keeping a brothel for prostitution.

Andrew appeared for sentence having been found guilty of the same charge at the end of a trial.

Neil King, prosecuting, described the set up police found as "a well run, professional and tidy brothel". At the house at the time were two "professional ladies" wearing silk dressing gowns and Kerrigan who was working as a brothel maid.

A police investigation discovered Baker had placed advertisements in local papers advertising a massage parlour.

More paperwork was discovered that showed prostitutes could keep 50 per cent of their 'takings' with the other half going to those running the brothel.

Mr King said police were able to establish the takings for the six months the brothel had been in operation, amounted to £170,000.

The police also discovered the tenancy agreement for Salisbury Square brothel had been taken out by Andrew, who was the partner of Janutiene.

Interviewed by police, Janutiene said she and Baker would collect the earnings from the prostitutes working at the house.

She said she had a background herself in prostitution and Mr King said there may have been an "overlap" period when she was also at the Salisbury Square address as a prostitute.

Judge John Plumstead, hearing the case, said he took the view having presided over Andrew's trial that he had been the company secretary for the business.

The judge said Kerrigan was "an old prostitute".

He said "She is somebody who when she was marketable sold herself and now she is assisting others who sell themselves.”

The court heard Baker was a mother of two who is now on benefits. Janutiene, the court was told, had worked in the past as a prostitute in Eastern Europe before coming to the UK.

She and Andrew were now engaged to be married, but said Patrick Maggs who defended her, she believed she had "destroyed" his life by getting him involved.

Andrew was said to have become "besotted" with Janutiene and fell head over heels in love for her with the result that he was willing to do anything for her.

He had managed to persuade her to leave prostitution for a while but she had returned to it and then involved him.

Kerrigan was described in court as a single mother who in the past had got mixed up with drugs.

Passing sentence the judge said had there been any sign that women working at the brothel had been "trafficked" then the sentences would have been harsher.

The judge said that while women could choose to prostitute themselves what they could not do was to set up brothels.

"It commercialises and exploits those who are willing to prostitute themselves for the benefit of others."

The judge said that people living in areas where brothels are set up are deeply affected by their presence.

The judge commented that having read the price list there must have been a constant stream of people visiting the house in Salisbury Square.

He told the four "By running a brothel you pollute an area".

Baker and Janutiene were both given a six-month prison sentence suspended for two years and ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work. The pair were also made the subject of a Prohibitive Activity Requirement forbidding them to engage in prostitution for the next six months.

Andrew was sentenced to four months in jail suspended for two years and told he must pay £2,800 towards the cost of the trial and a further £500 towards his defence costs.

Kerrigan was given a two-year conditional discharge.

The judge said her "commercial value" had diminished as she got older and she was no longer able to command the sort of prices she once would have earned as a prostitute.

He said that meant she had been reduced to working as a "domestic servant in a brothel.”

After the case, the judge praised the police investigation which had been carried out by a neighbourhood team.

Ref: CC228/September 6, South Beds News Agency copyright©

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