Brothel madam stripped of wealth

Ann O'Brien must pay £600,000 within six months

A millionaire brothel madam who ran an "enormously successful" business has been stripped of her wealth.

Ann O'Brien, 32, of Upper Berkeley Street in Mayfair, was found guilty in May of controlling prostitutes and given 180 hours community service.

On Thursday she faced a confiscation order for more than £600,000 and was told the whole enterprise she had set up was now "worthless financially".

O'Brien employed up to 40 prostitutes offering round-the-clock services.

Luxury home

Judge John Price, sitting at Southwark Crown Court, said a total of £602,915.67 had been raised from assets of £2,169,710.57 after mortgages and other cost had been paid.

This sends out a message that we will go after every penny people make from crimes like this Detective Constable Lawrie Day Rise and fall of vice queen

O'Brien was warned she faced a four-year prison term if she did not hand over the money within six months.

She is thought to have made £1.6m by running the operation from her luxury six bed-roomed home complete with penthouse suite.

The confiscation order covers the £337,000 found in her 31 bank accounts, £230,000 equity left after the sale of her £1.25m home and a £245,000 hairdressing salon set up to conceal the source of her wealth.

Vegetable stall

It also identified £9,000 found in the brothel the day of her arrest, a £1.400 life insurance policy and £500 for some of the brothel's contents.

Her trial heard how after being born in Nairobi she left school to help her mother run a vegetable stall - her family bought her a plane ticket to the UK in 1995.

She moved to London where she re-invented herself as "Nancy" and began working as a prostitute, the court heard, earning enough money to buy her own brothel with a £487,000 cash deposit.

After the hearing Det Con Lawrie Day, said: "This sends out a message that we will go after every penny people make from crimes like this."