Madam ran ‘VIP brothels’ in City to pay for her luxury lifestyle

A madam who ran a string of “high-end” brothels for City workers to bankroll her luxury lifestyle has been jailed for three years.

Graziella Dos Santos McNamee, 38, bought a five-bedroom home in Hertfordshire and holidayed in Gran Canaria with the profits of her prostitution racket. She also drove a Land Rover Discovery and sent her daughters to private school, Blackfriars crown court was told.

Her husband Brendan, 34, collected the takings from each brothel, as well as acting as a handyman and delivering towels and bed linen, the jury heard.

McNamee, a former sex worker, set up the first brothel in 2014 in a rented flat a short walk from St Paul’s Cathedral. She advertised on her own adult website, City Sensations, offering a £180-an-hour “VIP service” to City worker clients.

The following year she expanded her brothel business by renting two flats in Fleet Street and another in Middlesex Street opposite Liverpool Street station, plus a fourth in Bracknell, Berkshire.

The court heard she eventually had 11 bedrooms occupied by prostitutes, with customers arriving every 20 minutes at peak times.

Sex workers either rented a room or handed over half their takings to McNamee. Suspicions were raised by neighbours who saw a stream of men visiting the flat in Middlesex Street, and cleaners at the property in Friar Street found lists of women’s names and prices of services in the rubbish.

Jailing McNamee yesterday, Judge Nic Madge said her brothels had offered “extremely lucrative high-end prostitution”. The judge said the women involved had been “exploited” by McNamee, adding: “You were not doing this because you were poor or impoverished. You were doing this to fund a luxurious lifestyle. ”

The court heard that £50,000 went into the couple’s bank account between June 2015 and February last year, but there was evidence of much more money flowing in.

McNamee’s husband was given a 12-month suspended prison sentence, plus 150 hours’ community service. The couple, from Kings Langley, had denied keeping a brothel. McNamee was also found guilty of money laundering.