A former jockey turned assistant brothel manager has been fined £6,500 at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Stephen Reginald Hutton (31), from St Patrick's Park, Clondalkin, Dublin, pleaded guilty to assisting in managing a brothel which operated at the Winter Garden apartments on Pearse Street and had a turnover of £40,000 over seven weeks.
Garda Insp John McMahon said the brothel was known by three different names: Penthouse Pets, Club Elite and The Executive. It used In Dublin magazine to recruit women and to advertise services at up to £300 an hour.
Hutton was also given an 18month suspended sentence. He pleaded guilty to assisting in the management of the brothel between September 4th and September 22nd, 1999. Insp McMahon told Mr Brendan Grehan, prosecuting, that the brothel was raided as part of "Operation Gladiator", a move against organised prostitution in Dublin.
Insp McMahon said that Penthouse Pets and Club Elite charged their clients £150 an hour. If a client rang looking for the Executive Agency, the apartment would be cleared to give the impression it was owned by one woman. She would then charge £300 an hour.
He said four people were discovered in the apartment when it was raided, a client, a woman, Hutton and his partner.
Gardai found books detailing the accounts of the brothel's regular clientele and a ledger of its finances. The brothel earned £40,000 over a seven week period. There was a 50 per cent cut in takings between the prostitutes and "the house".
Insp McMahon said Hutton's main role was to rent the premises under a false name and to collect the earnings. When gardai raided the apartment, Hutton had 18 cheques valued at £4,832 and a bank draft worth £900. All were payments from the brothel's clients.
He said Hutton came from a good background and was now running a legitimate business with his partner, who had involved him in the brothel offence.
He returned to Ireland in 1995 after spending nearly 10 years working in the horse-racing industry in England and then became addicted to cocaine for three years.