A WOMAN has been jailed after admitting running a highly profitable brothel which netted her almost £30,000 in one year.

Ava Swift, 52, controlled a sex den - described as a “large scale commercial operation” - on the Eastside Industrial Estate off Jackson Street for around three years.

However, it came to an abrupt halt following a police raid in May 2010, Liverpool Crown Court was told.

An undercover police officer had phoned D2 to be quoted a range of prices ranging from £45 to £90.

He was told that three women worked at the industrial unit, which was open between 10am and 6pm.

During the raid they discovered three women in separate rooms with naked male clients. Prosecutor Graham Pickavance said a number of items were recovered, including sex toys and a quantity of cash as well as an index of the women.

In total, they took 150 photographs of the scene, including the women and their clients. Swift, from Liverpool Road in Ashton-in-Makerfield, was arrested in the unit’s kitchen.

Mr Pickavance said: “Time and work sheets were recovered as well as DVDs and a large quantity of underwear.

“Later officers went to Ava Swift’s home, where they recovered more sex toys, DVDs a computer and more cash. They also found financial documents.

“Enquiries were made, which revealed bank accounts with the Royal Bank of Scotland. She was quite clearly running a business.”

Mr Pickavance said she also kept VAT and tax returns and had at one stage had £66,550 in a bank account.

He stressed: “There is no suggestion that there is any background of threats, intimidation or coercion, abduction or detention. There is also no question of foreign workers involved.”

Paul Treble, defending Mrs Swift, who sat in the dock, wearing a dark suit and white shirt, referred to it as a “troubling case”.

He said: “The ladies concerned were working there of their own free will. There was no pressure or anything unsavoury. Some might say it’s better these ladies who did this work are in an establishment, rather than on the streets.

“This is a woman in her 50s, of previous good character, with a positive work ethic. She is now in financial difficulties and her assets have been frozen.”

However Judge Bryn Holloway said: “It is accepted that the ladies were not young and vulnerable. They were mature and there out of choice.

"They were making a living themselves. It was a long running, well organised and profitable business, generating a great deal of money for those involved with it.”

He sentenced her to 15 months in prison, but explained she will serve only a portion before being released on parole.