Madam, 70, caught after customer died of heart attack in her brothel
‘I was the cleaner, trying to save him’
A 70-YEAR-OLD madam who ran a suburban brothel was exposed after a customer had a heart attack and died.
Christy Norman was forced to dial 999 after she found the man, who had keeled over at Bunnie’s Ranch massage parlour.
Several escort workers and another manager fled the house in Bournemouth before the police arrived, leaving Norman to carry the can.
She tried to resuscitate the unnamed customer before paramedics took over, but he could not be saved.
Police realised the terraced house was being used as a brothel after finding sex toys and an S&M harness bolted to the ceiling of one of the bedrooms.
Norman claimed she was merely the cleaner and had nothing to do with running the illicit business, which charged men £130 an hour.
She later said her role was to be a ‘Girl Friday’ who sorted out any problems the women had with clients. But officers accused her of helping to run the brothel when they discovered that she had kept records of which services the women offered, the dates they saw clients, how much money came in and the nationality of the customers.
Norman, from Poole, denied assisting in the management of a brothel but was found guilty at Poole Magistrates’ Court.
Lee Turner, prosecuting, said: ‘She admitted she posted adverts on sex sites.
‘She had in-depth knowledge of how the brothel worked. If a girl saw a client for 15 minutes its £40. She kept a chit of what girl does what. A woman named Pat was the manageress and a man called Bobby was the owner.’
Norman, who is single, told the court she was a trained teacher and VAT officer. But two years ago she began working as a cleaner at Bunnie’s Ranch in Charminster, Bournemouth. She claimed she was ‘dropped in it’ on the day the male customer collapsed.
She told the court he let himself in after the escorts had left the door unlocked when they went to get cigarettes, adding: ‘He came in when the business wasn’t open.
‘I asked him to go away until the manager came and went back to the kitchen. Then I heard a thump, ran in and he was there flat out, fully dressed with a purple face.
‘I was the cleaner standing there trying to save a man’s life because the manageress ran away.’
Police found the dead man in one of the first-floor bedrooms.
After he collapsed, Norman asked the brothel workers to help her give him CPR, but they all fled. She claimed in court that police, paramedics and other organisations had known the house was a brothel for seven years before she started working there but had not taken any action.
She added: ‘I was told the police knew, and as long as no incident happened it would carry on.
‘The girls hired the rooms, I had no keys and had to be let in.
‘I became embroiled in a situation way beyond my control. I have been a law-abiding citizen, paid my taxes and had an unblemished record throughout my life. This is the first time I have been arrested. It was traumatic and stressful.’
But District Judge Stephen Nicholls said there was ‘clear evidence’ she helped to manage the brothel, and gave her a 12-month conditional discharge and told her to pay £400 in prosecution costs.
Tim Cole, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: ‘ Christy Norman’s defence was that she was only a cleaner at Bunnie’s Ranch.
‘This was, however, far from being the truth.
‘ She admitted during police interviews that she had been publicising the Ranch’s services on local sex sites and was keeping a book where she would record the sexual practices of the employees, the clients’ nationality and how much the girls would charge.’
One neighbour said yesterday: ’Everyone knows it is a brothel.
‘You see cars pulling up and men going in and out of there at all hours of the day and night.’