Man Jailed For Managing Brothels

A 43-year-old man who managed brothels in Manchester has been jailed for 20 months.

David Greenwood pleaded guilty to three charges connected to prostitution at Manchester Crown Court Crown Square.

Greenwood, formally of Bridgemere Close, Radcliffe, was wanted by police after officers carried out a visit in February 2008 at the Belle Air massage parlour in Oldham Road, Manchester city centre, to check on the welfare of women working there.

They discovered a 17-year-old Romanian girl was working as a prostitute.

She told officers that she was brought to the UK under the pretence that she was to work as a waitress, but was put to work in the sex trade.

Police later found two other brothels - Cleopatra's Sauna on Whitelegge Street, Bury, and Shangri-La on Ashton Old Road, Openshaw - were also being managed by Greenwood.

Greenwood's business partner, Clive Ashton, 52, of Bankhouse Road, Bury, was arrested at the time and later pleaded guilty at Manchester Crown Court Crown Square to three charges related to running a brothel and and possessing amphetamine. He was jailed for 16 months.

Greenwood had gone to live at his second home in Estepona, Spain, and was arrested in February 2009 after police obtained a European arrest warrant.

Detective Constable Nigel Smith, of Greater Manchester Police's Sexual Crime Unit, said: "Greenwood was motivated by making money and he did not seem bothered about the welfare of those working for him, including that 17-year-old girl.

"Although neither he nor Ashton were responsible for her having been trafficked into the UK, people who run these sorts of enterprises encourage traffickers and perpetuate the misery women are subjected to."

Ashton has already been ordered by the court to pay back £11,000 under the Proceeds of Crime Act and police will be pursuing Greenwood for his ill-gotten gains in relation to his involvement in this illegal enterprise, said CD Smith.

(PR/BMcc)