BROTHEL owner Lauren Martell has been given a 12-month suspended prison sentence after she admitted spending thousands of pounds on a "lavish lifestyle" from her illegal city business.

The 39-year-old prostitute owns a speedboat and Porsche, which are now subject to a confiscation order issued by Exeter Crown Court Recorder Nigel Seed QC.

Martell, of Pilot Wharf, Pierhead, Exmouth, appeared for sentencing yesterday and was also given a six-month supervision order and ordered to undertake 150 hours of unpaid community work.

At an earlier hearing, city magistrates were told she had set aside a £56,000 "nest egg" for her retirement and also recently bought a jet-ski.

She had pleaded guilty to keeping a brothel at 2 The Stables, in Friernhay Street, Exeter.

She had also admitted to concealing, disguising, converting, transferring or removing criminal property by keeping £56,000 and $617 in a safe in her home.

Martell further admitted spending cash from the proceeds of crime on a £29,000 Porsche Boxster, a £9,000 Sea Ray speedboat, paying more than £2,000 in mooring fees at Exmouth marina and buying a painting worth more than £2,000.

In addition she pleaded guilty to possessing a stun gun, found in a bag behind a wardrobe at her home.

Police were alerted to the brothel after members of the public complained that clients kept calling on wrong addresses nearby.

Martell had worked as a prostitute from the age of 16 and, at 25, set up in business with a friend and took half the money that her staff earned.

The brothel and Martell's home were raided by police in August last year.

Prosecuting, Anne Redrop told the recorder a young woman who was "scantily clad" and an illegal immigrant allowed police officers into the premises.

Inside, a male client was in a waiting room while another was having sex with a woman upstairs.

Officers then found the stash of cash in a safe at the defendant's home.

Her barrister, Gareth Evans, said it was not a case of exploitation. The cash haul was her life savings for retirement, he added.

The Recorder said a confiscation order would be applied in August.

He told her: "You are like an iceberg because what people saw on the surface was not what was going on below.

"Your neighbours had no idea what went on.

"It was an illegal activity which should not have been taking place."