A WOMAN jailed for running a brothel amassed a fortune of almost half a million pounds, a court has heard.

Ava Swift, who was sentenced to 15-months in June, was back in the dock at Liverpool Crown Court for a Proceeds of Crime hearing.

The 53-year-old managed the brothel at the D2 unit off Jackson Street from January 2007 to May 2010, raking in £494,628.

Judge Bryn Holloway said her realisable assets, which were largely in her bank account totalling £100,905, had been frozen by police. She alos had three cars, including an Audi Quattro.

Swift, from Liverpool Road in Ashton-in-Makerfield, was warned that if she failed to pay back the cash, she would face two more years in prison.

She had pleaded guilty in the summer to running the highly profitable sex den, which was described as a “large scale commercial operation.”

It was closed following a police raid in which they discovered three women in separate rooms with naked male clients.

They also unearthed a cache of sex toys, pornographic films and money.

Swift’s barrister David Polglase told the court that she is not due for release from prison until next spring because she is not eligible for early release with an electronic tag.

Police found that she pocketed £20 from each client, with the prostitutes keeping the rest.

Detective Inspector Sue Coombs, from Merseyside Police’s Economic Crime Unit said: “Anyone found to have made a profit from criminality will have their assets stripped and profits seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

“This case highlights that crime doesn’t pay and anyone who thinks they have made money through crime and got away with it needs to think again as we will find you and we will take it off you.”