A married couple from Bingham who ran a prostitution operation in Lincoln where Chinese women would see up to 12 'customers' a day have both been handed 18-month suspended sentences.

Philip Godfrey, 47, and Lam Lai Man, 52, used encrypted instant messaging apps to first find the women, who were often not familiar with the country or language.

The women would then travel to Lincoln and be taken to a flat where they would remain for almost an entire week and see up to 12 customers for sex, each day.

Lam set the prices and arranged the customers. Godfrey supported the operation by viewing properties to rent for sex workers, paying for phones, creating and paying for online adverts for sex workers and paying the rent for properties each month – always using fake names.

The pair each admitted two charges of controlling prostitution for gain and pleaded guilty at a hearing on 29th August, 2019.

At Lincoln Crown Court today (17th August, 2020), the pair, both of The Banks, Bingham, were sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment, suspended for two years.

Godfrey and Lam began the enterprise by renting a flat in the north of Lincoln, in March 2017.

The following month different Chinese women were being brought to the property for one week at a time.

They also rented a second flat in the south of Lincoln, in June 2017, which was set up for the same purpose. Police raided both flats, and the suspects' home in Bingham, on 6th September 2017.

In the flat in the north of Lincoln they found a Chinese woman who had arrived two days previously, plus a male 'nanny' who lived in this flat with the sex worker and escorted her if she left the building. Police also found various items relating to sex work, and money hidden in a freezer.

Mobile phones, laptops, and wads of notes totaling £3,500 stuffed in cushions were discovered at the suspects' home address, in addition to a diary which showed that Lam had arranged for different women to come to the Lincoln property for one week at a time until mid-December 2017.

Police later found notes indicating that they were possibly looking to rent further properties elsewhere in the region.

The nanny was subsequently deported to Hong Kong.

DC Michael Simpson, from the Serious and Organised Crime Unit at Lincolnshire Police, said: "Godfrey and Lam used technology to their advantage to create a sophisticated operation that was difficult to unpick.

"The investigation required modern thinking and modern investigative techniques to trace the suspects and bring them to justice. Everyone who played a part in has now been traced and dealt with.

"Thanks to vigilant members of the public who reported this activity at an early stage, we were able to get a grip of this criminality before the suspects possibly expanded their operation into other towns."