A group of men who admitted to running an organised prostitution ring have been ordered to repay nearly £250,000.

Police launched an investigation into the Mayfair Girls escort agency after finding thousands of business cards at the home of a man arrested in Kings Hill in July 2017.

Following inquiries, it was discovered that the agency was an online front for organised prostitution – and the men behind it were earning a 30% commission for every appointment arranged.

The sex workers involved had to apply to join the agency but no checks were made on their age or welfare, including if they were being controlled or exploited by others.

Satvinder Kandola, James DeGiorgio, Luke Wotton and a fourth man pleaded guilty to conspiracy to control prostitution for gain and were sentenced in summer 2022.

Kandola was jailed for two-and-a-half years and the others received suspended sentences.

Further inquiries were carried out by financial investigators who applied for confiscation orders to be made in respect of the money each offender earned from their crimes.

Kandola, 41, from Kings Hill, was found in possession of around £68,000 cash and a one kilogram gold bar which is now worth around £51,000 following his arrest for an unrelated offence in July 2017.

At Woolwich Crown Court on Thursday, April 27, he was ordered to repay a total of £124,773 within three months or face a further two years’ imprisonment and still have to pay.

DeGiorgio, 39, from Swanscombe, was ordered to pay back £79,447 within three months or be jailed for 18 months at a hearing at the same court on Tuesday, May 2.

Wotton, 32, from Swanscombe, was ordered to pay back £42,600 within three months or receive a year in custody. His hearing was also at Woolwich Crown Court on May 2.

“They provided a faceless platform for sexual exploitation that could have placed many women and girls at great risk...”

Detective Inspector David Godfrey said: “The men involved in this prostitution ring clearly made vast sums of money from the sex workers they advertised, sparing little to no thought for who they were or how vulnerable they may have been.

“They provided a faceless platform for sexual exploitation that could have placed many women and girls at great risk.

“Our financial investigators go to great lengths to ensure offenders cannot continue to reap the rewards of their ill-gotten gains, and the value of the confiscation orders secured in this case represents yet another significant achievement for the Proceeds of Crime Team.”