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A brothel madam and people trafficker made almost £1.2 million from two massage parlours in Northampton where Thai prostitutes were kept in semi-slavery, a court heard.

Angela Miller, aged 51, faces having all of her money, savings and properties in Thailand being confiscated and up to 10 more years in prison under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

She was convicted of controlling prostitutes and their earnings in September 2000 but jumped bail and fled to Thailand before she could be sentenced.

Having been on the run for six years, she was extradited back to the UK in October 2006 to start more than four years imprisonment imposed in her absence.

She appeared at Northampton Crown Court yesterday for a confiscation hearing, almost a decade since her arrest for running two brothels passing as massage parlours in Northampton.

Police raided the brothels in Kingsley Park Terrace, run by Miller and her ex-husband Ron, revealing that 18 Thai women had been trafficked into the UK for prostitution.

The people smuggling racket involved Thai women being brought to the UK by Miller, her ex-husband or agents at £10,000 a time in an operation reaching the UK, France, Australia and Canada.

Giving evidence, Miller admitted making the Thai women pay her £10,000 to travel to the UK but denied she was as rich as the prosecution alleges.

She is accused of forcing each girl to pay £10,000 every three months.

Miller told Judge Richard Bray that the women had to repay the costs of illegal entry into the UK, would have to buy their own condoms, food and water but were left £10 to £15 a day "for sweets".

She is said to have hidden away up to £700,000 cash which she had taken from the prostitutes as well as amassing a number of property investments in her homeland.

Det Con Paul Beck, who led the original investigation and brought Miller back from Thailand, said investigations with the Royal Thai Police revealed Miller's extensive assets and savings.

As well as owning a house in Cavendish Drive in Northampton, Miller also owned a penthouse in the beach resort of Pattaya, four plots of land and four shops in Kanchanaburi, savings in two bank accounts as well as the Far East Rock bar in Pattaya which was also run as a brothel.

The prosecution are seeking to prove she made £1.2 million from prostitution, with £434,000 in traceable assets and another £700,000 which she denies hiding away from investigators.

Miller claims to have no money and has previously blamed her ex-husband Ron for taking all of the money they made through the Siam Sauna and Thai House brothels.

The hearing continues.

- Northampton Chronicle (UK)