A MAN who ran a network of brothels that netted up to £30,000 a month has had more than £300,000 confiscated.

David Sibley, 52, was in charge of 15 brothels across south London, including one in Old Bromley Road, Downham, between April and June last year.

His accomplice, Michael Hatton, bailed out his bankrupt boss by laundering the ill gotten gains, buying homes in Kent and East Sussex to the tune of about £1.5 million.

A confiscation order of £301,036 in recoverable assets was made against Sibley at Southwark Crown Court.

Police were also given the go-ahead to seize another £2,446 worth of Euros. They already have part of this but are to recover the rest from a Spanish bank account.

Both orders must be paid within six months.

Sibley, formerly of Blyth Road, Bromley, but who now lives in Hither Green, had recruited Hatton, of Quilter Road, Orpington, who was working as a car washer at a second-hand car business.

Sibley served a 15-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to conspiracy to control prostitution and conspiracy to convert criminal property last year.

Hatton, who pleaded guilty to the same charges this year, was ordered to do 160 hours unpaid community work for his junior role in the racket.

None of the prostitutes were coerced into working at the brothels, according to prosecutors.