£12,000-a-week madam found guilty

Ann O'Brien is expected to get community service

A millionaire madam collapsed in court after she was found guilty of running a successful sex empire.

Ann O'Brien, 32, rose from being a market stallholder in rural Kenya to employing dozens of prostitutes at her five-bedroom brothel in central London.

O'Brien denied three counts of controlling prostitutes between October 2003 and April last year.

At one stage, O'Brien was earning a personal profit of £12,000 a week, Southwark Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Jonathan Higgs said his case was based on "overwhelming evidence".

Unanimous verdict

As well as 200,000 telephone box cards found in her room, the large property in Upper Berkley Street had a wide variety of "other things you may not think are there for somebody to spend a comfortable night on their own", he said.

He added that three shifts of prostitutes were employed to man the 24-hour operation including the widely-advertised Marble Arch Girls agency and Nancy's Escort Visiting and Massage Service.

The jury reached a unanimous verdict, rejecting O'Brien's claims that she knew nothing about prostitution and was running nothing more than an escort service.

Judge John Price said in view of the five months she had already spent behind bars, he would consider some sort of community service once pre-sentence reports had been prepared for sentencing on 22 June.

As talk turned to the possibility of confiscation, O'Brien became increasingly distressed as she realised her 27 bank accounts and £1.25m brothel may be taken from her.

The confiscation hearing she has yet to face will hear that her profession was so lucrative that she has banked £1.6m since 1997.