Man helped run Birmingham brothel

Mar 3 2008 By Emma Cullwick, Birmingham Mail

AN ILLEGAL immigrant has been found guilty of helping to run a brothel that was just yards from a Birmingham primary school.

Bo Zhang had previously denied being involved in the running of the brothel in a terraced house in Harvey Road, Yardley, opposite Yardley Primary School.

He was jailed for four months, but freed the following day after already serving 153 days behind bars while awaiting trial.

Giving evidence at Birmingham Magistrates Court, Zhang, 31, claimed he had no idea the property was a brothel or the women working there were prostitutes.

He claimed he was employed to work their as a cook and a "nanny", making meals for the "masseurs", cleaning the house and washing the women's clothes and bed sheets.

Zhang said he had worked at the brothel for just three weeks and had previously worked as a chef in London.

China-born Zhang wept in the dock as he admitted he had lived as an illegal immigrant in Britain for six years and took the job at the brothel because he could not earn money legally.

The court was shown bags containing large quantities of condoms and lubricants, which were seized after police swooped on the property on February 21, 2007.

Officers carried out a covert surveillance of the house after residents complained about men visiting the property at "all hours of the day and night", said Simon Paulo, prosecuting.

When asked whether he thought the woman's attire was "unusual for a legitimate masseuse", Zhang simply shrugged his shoulders.

District Judge Neil Davison found Zhang guilty of one count of managing, acting or assisting in the management of a brothel. Zhang's conviction comes after Shuk Ng, 43, of no fixed address, was last September sentenced to three months imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, after admitting a charge of working at the brothel.