WATCH: Police raid Steam and Sun in Chalton Street in 2012

Published: 25 July, 2013
by ALICE HUTTON

THE manager of a multi-million pound brothel which operated in Somers Town for seven years received a reduced sentence after a court heard how prostitutes were kept “safe and secure”.

Ross Lawson, 32, was convicted of running the Steam and Sun Health Club, in Chalton Street, at Blackfriars Crown Court.

The court heard how the operation helped him amass and launder a “vast fortune”, which allowed his family to lead an affluent lifestyle.

But on Tuesday, Judge Peter Murphy took into account how the venue had been managed, with women allowed to keep all their earnings and a refusal to hire under-age or trafficked women

Mr Lawson was sentenced to two years for the management of the brothel and 18 months for each of three money-laundering offences. He is likely to be released after a year as the sentences are to run concurrently.

Judge Murphy noted that Mr Lawson, from St Albans, had shown “significant business acumen” in setting up the four-floor, high-class, custom-built brothel which boasted penthouse suites and celebrity clients.

He said it had been regrettable that Mr Lawson had been unable to go to university, after arriving in the UK from Cyprus, because of the expensive international fees.

Judge Murphy said the Treasury and Camden Council had benefited from the “remarkable” business, which paid corporation tax, National Insurance, VAT and council tax as well as licensing fees to run as a “massage parlour” and a bar from 2005 until a police raid in February last year.

Sarah Vine, mitigating for Mr Lawson, told the court the business could be seen as “enlightened” and that Mr Lawson had reported to the police a man who had offered him trafficked women.

“Sex workers at the Steam and Sun were safe and healthy, voluntary and autonomous,” she added. “The level of concealment in this enterprise was absolutely minimal. It was kept as legitimate as a criminal enterprise could have been.

“He turned it round from a business that was rather shabby and poorly run to one that was safe and secure, both in the human sense and financial terms.”

Judge Murphy commended Detective Constable Robert Jones for his work in bringing the complex case to court.

“The sentence I will pass will be a good deal less than it would have been, having regard to the financial success and scale of the operation, because of the conditions that I referred to,” he added. “Some will regard this sentence as being somewhat more lenient.”

Forensic accountants will now be brought in to trace the alleged millions of pounds generated by the brothel.

Mr Lawson’s sister, club receptionist Jade Lawson, 27, of Hampshire, was found guilty of acquiring criminal property to the tune of £30,000 after her brother transferred money to pay off student loans after they had been arrested. She received a six-month suspended sentence and electronic curfew.

She was found not guilty of assisting in running a brothel or possessing criminal property.

Club barman Waldemar Walczak, 29, of Coopers Lane, Somers Town, was found guilty of acquiring, possessing and converting criminal property and will be sentenced next month.

He was cleared of charges of assisting in managing the brothel.

His wife, Karolina Ginter, 33, and brother-in-law Rafal Ginter, 29, also of Coopers Lane, were found not guilty of acquiring criminal property after Mr Walczak transferred money into their bank accounts.