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	England and Wales Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) Decisions
You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) Decisions >> Cox, R. v [2009] EWCA Crim 1063 (14 May 2009) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Crim/2009/1063.html Cite as: [2009] EWCA Crim 1063

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IN THE COURT OF APPEAL
CRIMINAL DIVISION

		Royal Courts of Justice Strand London, WC2A 2LL
		14th May 2009

1. MR JUSTICE ANDREW SMITH: The appellant was sentenced on 6th March 2009 to 14 months' imprisonment for managing a brothel, having pleaded guilty on 2nd June 2008. The Court also made a confiscation order for payment of £203,355 to be paid within six months with three years' imprisonment in default. The appellant appeals against the sentence of imprisonment.
2. In May 2006 a warrant was executed at the appellant's home, from which he ran what was called an escort agency but was in fact a brothel. The police discovered evidence of prostitution. Records seized included interview notes, employment records and appointment books. The records suggested that over 120 women had either worked at the brothel will or had enquired about doing so and they referred to over 200 clients. Clients were apparently charged £75 per half hour, of which the appellant would receive £25 or £30 pounds. He admitted in interview receiving £800 a week. The prosecution alleged that a bogus car hire company was used to account for his income from the business and to disguise what was being carried on. This is disputed, but on any view the profits were substantial.
3. The particulars of the indictment against the appellant referred to him offending between 1st May 2004 and 12th May 2006, but he accepted advertising an escort agency in the local press since December 2001. It is said that initially the escort agency was just that. All the women who worked from the brothel were adult. There is no suggestion that any was the subject of any compulsion or coercion. The prosecution alleged that the appellant would himself have intercourse with women whom he interviewed to work from the brothel, but that is disputed, and we deal with the appeal on the basis that he did not do so.
4. The appellant pleaded guilty on the first day of his trial, but it was only then that he was charged with managing a brothel: the allegation had been one of controlling prostitution, which he denied and denies. His defence statement explained that. We deal with the appeal on the basis that he is entitled to full credit for his plea.
5. There was a basis of plea, in which the appellant accepted playing a managerial role, "running the activities of the house". He admitted providing premises for the brothel, being involved in keeping records, recruiting women, answering the phone, paying bills and receiving what were called "agency fees".
6. The appellant is aged 72. He has no previous convictions. The chances of him re-offending are assessed as low. We have received a medical report which states that he suffers from a depressive illness, the symptoms of which are likely to be aggravated by his conviction and imprisonment. We have also read a letter from the appellant's daughter, which, among other things, explains her father's long-standing back problem which gives constant pain, and there are other medical difficulties.
7. The appellant had been on bail since his arrest in May 2006 until his sentence. His sentence was some three years later. We understand that part of the delay was to do with the confiscation proceedings.
8. It is said on the appellant's behalf that he become involved in the business when he became friendly in the late 1990s with a woman who, he came to learn, ran an escort business and when he allowed another woman with a drugs problem to stay with him in order to help her. He came to know other prostitutes and agreed to be involved in setting up the escort agency from which the brothel resulted.
9. The definitive guidelines of the Sentencing Guideline Council indicate a starting point for an offence of this kind when there is no coercion or corruption but where, as here, the offender was closely involved with the prostitution, to be a period of 12 months' custody, with a sentencing range of between 26 weeks and two years.
10. It is clear that a custodial sentence was appropriate. The submission made is that the sentence was too long and that it should have been suspended.
11. We have referred to the mitigating features, both with regard to the offending and the appellant's personal circumstances. We have considered the cases to which the appellant's counsel has referred us: Bao [2007] EWCA Crim 2781; Chen [2007] EWCA Crim 1791; Baker [2008] EWCA Crim 274; and Shi [2008] EWCA Crim 1930.
12. The judge, in passing sentence, referred to the scale of the operation. We agree that this is a serious aggravating feature, both in terms of the number of women involved and in terms of the profitability of the business and in terms of the time over which it was carried on. It was an activity managed by the appellant at the premises where he lived. He kept records of the business. He advertised it. There was a marked degree of sophistication. The sentence is undoubtedly a severe one for a man of the appellant's age and in his medical condition, but we are unable to conclude that it was outside the proper range of sentences that could be passed for this offending, and accordingly the appeal is dismissed.