Trio sentenced for 'substantial' brothel network

Three people have been sentenced for running a "very substantial" network of brothels disguised as massage parlours.

Liu Xu Hopkins, 56, Benjamin Hopkins, 57, both of Staple Hill, South Gloucestershire, and Khondakar Hasan, 40, of Leicester, pleaded guilty to controlling prostitution for gain in November.

They were found to have run six premises across the country, including in Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Berkshire, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, and had moved women between the parlours.

His Honour Judge Townsend, presiding over the hearing at Swindon Crown Court, sentenced Liu Xu Hopkins to 24 months in prison, while Benjamin Hopkins and Khondakar Hasan were each sentenced to 18 months.

However, as they have all been in custody since being arrested in October 2025, they will be released.

Handing down his sentence, Townsend described the prostitution ring as a "very substantial commercial enterprise" and thanked the police for their work investigating the crimes.

Earlier in the hearing, prosecution barrister Stephanie Painter told the court officers had been offered sex at the premises while working undercover.

Police officers working on the case learned that women were instructed not to leave any evidence of sexual activity on the premises.

Painter told the court the women were moved between the six parlours "to keep customers happy", and Liu Xu Hopkins - who had a previous conviction for prostitution and money laundering dating back to 2016 - had recruited women to work there, including one woman from China.

Benjamin Hopkins, meanwhile, was responsible for maintaining the buildings and driving women between premises - of which there were two in Chippenham, one in the Brockworth area of Gloucester, one in Reading, one in Bury St Edmunds and one in Ely.

His barrister, Alex Small, told the court he had been ignorant of what was happening at the massage parlours and had been "a bit shocked" to discover what his wife had offered customers.

Meanwhile Khondakar Hasan, Painter said, had organised rent at the premises and paid the businesses' bills.

Sgt Jamie Ball, who leads Chippenham's neighbourhood policing team, told the BBC that the case had initially been brought to their attention by a member of the public.

Police quickly realised the investigation went much further than Chippenham, and spent the next 18 months investigating - finding women working long hours in hot conditions.

"[These were] people who were moving females around the country to work at these premises, offering these sexual services, and they were making huge financial gains out of it," said Ball, of the three people running the operation.

"There were also the females as well, who were extremely vulnerable as well and needed to be safeguarded," he added.

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