Convicted brothel keeper told to pay more than £100k or face jail

A confiscation order of more than £100,000 has been handed to a man convicted of running two brothels in Maidenhead.

Michael Emmanuel Adekoya, of Kilmington Close, Bracknell, has been told to pay £116,270 within three months following a hearing which concluded at Reading Crown Court on Friday.

If he fails to pay, he will serve a one-year prison sentence.

It comes after the 36-year-old was found to have benefited from the running of brothels in Maidenhead between 2009 and 2013.

The offences relate to the keeping and management of a brothel in Cookham Road and, when it was closed down, another brothel in King Street between November 2009 and May 2013.

Police raided the Cookham Road brothel in November 2012 and, following further enquiries, found it had been rented using false details. Adekoya was eventually identified paying rental money in at various banks.

In May 2013, police found out the brothel had moved to King Street and was again rented using false details.

A raid was carried out in King Street in June 2013 and Adekoya was arrested at his home.

He was charged in January 2014 and was found guilty by jury of two counts of managing or assisting in the management of the two brothels at Reading Crown Court on January 7, 2016.

He was given a 20-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, at the same court on January 29 and told to undertake 200 hours of unpaid work.

Patricia Mills, a 45-year-old from Torrington Park, London, was given a community order after pleading guilty for her part in assisting in the management of the two brothels at an earlier hearing at Reading Crown Court on July 31, 2015.

Another man was arrested as part of the investigation but no evidence was offered against him.

Det Insp Gavin Tyrrell of the Economic Crime Unit said: “This substantial confiscation order demonstrates that after conviction, Thames Valley Police and the Crown Prosecution Service will seek to ensure that defendants will not benefit from their criminal activities.

“The defendant had clearly benefited as a result of his ‘criminal lifestyle’, in his part in the running of these two brothels.  The Proceeds of Crime Act enables us to deprive criminals of what has been obtained from their crimes on top of any sentences imposed by the courts.”