Woman fined £500 for managing brothel

AN ENGLISHWOMAN was fined £500 at the Magistrate’s Court in Derry yesterday when she pleaded guilty to keeping and managing a brothel in Waterside last year.

Maxine Georgina Noel (38) , Station Road, Tipton, Wolverhampton, admitted committing the offence in an apartment block at Victoria Court on October 29th, 2007.

A prosecution solicitor told District Judge Barney McElholm that police searched the flat on foot of a search warrant.

“The defendant admitted arranging appointments, taking phone calls and collecting and banking money received from prostitution. A number of items were seized, including mobile phones, records of financial transactions, financial documents and money associated with the business of prostitution,” he said.

Defence solicitor Paddy McGurk said Noel had “previously been engaged in this business in a different role. She was offered the opportunity to deal with a more serious aspect of the business in which she would be answering the phone and making appointments. She felt that would be a lot easier,” he said.

“It was not a particularly lucrative role and she is no longer involved in prostitution and she has indicated to me she will not be getting into any line of associated business in the future and she is deeply distressed at what has happened.

“When the police arrived at the apartment they were proactively seeking another party who they felt was more deeply involved in this business,” Mr McGurk said.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times