A man convicted of running a brothel in Huddersfield has been ordered to pay back £55,000 of his ill-gotten gains.
Roger Harriott was found guilty by a jury at Leeds Crown Court last year of operating Harmony’s in Willow Lane, Fartown, for prostitution.
He was given a suspended jail sentence and ordered to do 300 hours unpaid work.
At the same court yesterday Alan Semple, prosecuting, said agreement had been reached in the confiscation proceedings.
He told Judge Guy Kearl QC that it was agreed last year Harriott’s benefit from criminal conduct was £150,000 and following financial disclosures his realisable assets were now set at £55,656.29.
The judge made the confiscation order in that sum after hearing the bulk of that was from a valuation of Harriott’s home in Blackhouse Road, Fartown, but also included money from bank accounts.
Harriott, now 46, was given six months to pay or face 18 months in prison in default.
Sentencing him last year Judge Kearl said it was accepted none of the prostitutes involved in the brothel were under-age, coerced or corrupted.
Harriott’s counsel at trial, Katherine Pierpoint said then he was well viewed in the community. Since the brothel was shut down he had sought other employment and had started a tiling and plastering course.
At the earlier hearing she said the seven women involved were not young vulnerable girls, but women in their 30s.
Miss Pierpoint said Harriott was described as “a good boss” during conversations with the women which were recorded by police officers.
She said the set up at the premises in Willow Lane was relatively naive, but she conceded that the amount of money made and the period of time were aggravating features of the case.
Police had busted the brothel in 2011 after a growing number of complaints from residents sick of the seedy comings and goings.
Further investigations at the innocuous-looking terraced property on Willow Lane revealed a bathroom fitted with a jacuzzi and a massage bed, a bedroom with mirrored walls and another garish pink boudoir.
Kinky outfits were laid out on a sofa.
It is believed the brothel had been operating for several years and was being advertised in one of the national tabloid newspapers as a “massage parlour”.