A man has appeared in court charged with running a brothel in a quiet town street just metres from a church, family homes and businesses.
You Shan Quing, 50, is alleged to have managed a brothel in St John’s Street, Wellingborough.
He appeared at Northampton Crown Court on Wednesday, May 29, where he denied the offences.
Speaking through a Mandarin interpreter Quing, of Whitstable, Kent, denied an allegation that on March 10, 2011, he acted in the management of a brothel in St John’s Street, Wellingborough, to which people “resorted for practices involving prostitution”.
He also denied a charge of intentionally controlling activities of another person in relation to her prostitution in any part of the world for, or in exception of, gain for himself or a third party.
He admitted a third charge of failing to surrender to custody at Wellingborough Magistrates Court on May 10, 2011, after being released on bail two months earlier.
The Crown Prosecution Service has alleged that one Thai woman was working in the brothel at the time, but others had worked there in the past.
The Thai woman was arrested in 2011 and is now wanted on a warrant.
Judge Michael Fowler adjourned the case for trial this summer.
He said: “I am adjourning your case for trial in July.
“In the meantime you will remain in custody.”
What the law says on prostitution
Keeping a brothel or letting premises for use as a brothel can carry between a six-month and a seven-year prison sentence.
It is not illegal to sell sex at a brothel provided the sex worker is not involved in management or control of the premises.
Under the Policing and Crime Act 2009, it is an offence for a person to loiter or solicit in a public place for the purposes of offering services as a prostitute.