Brothel owner must pay back £2m

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The owner of a brothel in the West Midlands has been ordered to pay back £2m under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Carl Pritchett ran the Cuddles massage parlour in Hagley Road, Bearwood, where 19 foreign women were found during a police raid in September 2005.

The 56-year-old, of Holbeache Road, Wall Heath, West Midlands, was jailed for two years in 2006.

Wolverhampton Crown Court told him he had six months to pay back the money or serve a further seven years in prison.

'Not profited'

His trial was told that officers found a large number of "scantily clad" women at the brothel and a couple having sex in a room when they raided the premises.

A West Midlands Police investigation showed Pritchett had no legitimate income and had not paid income tax for several years.

West Midlands Police said Pritchett had laundered the money he made from the brothel and used it to buy properties overseas.

He had also been driving a Ferrari for two years prior to his arrest.

Det Insp Andy Bannister, of West Midlands Police, said: "With this confiscation we have ensured that this man has not profited from exploiting women."