Three people have gone on trial accused of involvement in organised prostitution in parts of Kent.

Dennis Williams, Geoffrey Newman and his wife, Ling, are alleged to have controlled oriental call girls over a two-and-a-half-year period.

Maidstone Crown Court was told the brothels operated from addresses in Herne Bay, Sittingbourne, Margate and Ramsgate between May 2005 and December 2007.

Allister Walker, prosecuting, said thousands of pounds was spent on advertising girls in local newspapers, calling them Beautiful Asian and Super sexy, sultry seductress.

The adverts incorporated a mobile telephone number and said: Me to you or you to me.

Mr Walker said undercover police officers called at the various addresses posing as customers.

Officers were wired to tape conversations. They were given a price list and asked for a massage but then made their excuses and left.

"It is impossible to say how many prostitutes worked at the premises," said the prosecutor. "Being a cash trade, it was impossible to say how much money was made.

"However, the bill for the period for advertising was in excess of £70,000."

Tariff for sexual services

Mr Walker said it was the Crown’s case that the enterprise belonged to 54-year-old Williams and he ran it with the help of the Newmans.

"He bore the financial responsibility for the properties that were crucial to the plan, owning one and guaranteeing rent on others," said Mr Walker.

"It was only natural he should take the lead in the operation and management of this enterprise. He set the tariff for the sexual services written out on price lists for use in the brothels.

"He paid for the advertising in local newspapers in cash. He used his car to move working women to and from addresses.

"He kept careful watch on them. He had installed a hidden camera in at least two of the addresses and he controlled prostitutes for commercial gain."

Mr Walker said the brothels were in Station Road and Richmond Road, Herne Bay; Unity Street, Sittingbourne; Margate Road, Ramsgate; and Ethelbert Road, Margate.

Williams, of Ethelbert Road, Margate, and the Newmans, of Richmond Road, Herne Bay, deny conspiracy to control prostitutes for gain.

Williams and Geoffrey Newman also deny conspiracy to traffick women within the UK for sexual exploitation.

The trial continues.