Condoms, sex toys, bondage equipment and two prostitutes were found by police during a raid on a flat in Bricket Wood that was being run as a brothel.

A list of potential prostitutes - with personal details such as their bust sizes and a price list of their different services - was also discovered.

In a Women's Institute Diary there was a record of the mobile phone numbers of customers, with their descriptions, St Albans Crown Court heard yesterday.

The one bed flat in Gateway Court, Bricket Wood was being run by Peter Davies, a former postman and mobile phone salesman, who also operated a brothel from a flat in Camden Road, North London.

While he was serving a jail sentence for growing cannabis, the operation was run by his girlfriend Aysegul Aydin.

Prosecutor Andrew Johnson said Ms Aydin told officers after the raid on May 31: "I am not running the brothel. It is not an offence for adults to do that sort of thing if they want."

Davies was arrested for running the brothel and, while out on licence from the drug sentence, was back controlling two Romanian prostitutes from the flat.

Mr Johnson said in September 2014 the two women travelled from Portsmouth and began operating from the flat, paying Davies £750 a week rent.

They left in November after the electricity was cut off. They were arrested in Newcastle after Davies accused them of theft.

The police discovered that from December 19 to December 22 another prostitute was operating from the flat after responding to an advert Davies had placed on the Adult Work website.

She was paying him £100 a day rent and was charging punters £80 for half an hour and £130 for an hour.

The prosecutor estimated the turnover from the brothels was £103,506 - something Davies disputed.

Davies, 47, of Westleigh Gardens, Edgware, admitted conspiring to control prostitutes for gain between June 18, 2012 and June 13, 2013.

He also pleaded guilty to controlling prostitutes between October 1, 2014 and January 21, 2014.

He had been sentenced at Harrow Crown Court for production of cannabis and possession of amphetamine.

Aydin, 33, of The Fairway, London, admitted conspiring to control prostitutes for gain between June 18, 2012 and June, 13 2013.

A third defendant, Victoria Mangion, 57, of Fairbridge Road, London, who was linked to the other two defendants, admitted brothel keeping from her home. Her address was raided on June 12, 2013.

For Davies, Michael Orsulik said there had been no element of coercion or exploitation of the women. He said Davies, who had been a junior ice hockey coach, apologised and was now working to qualify as a gas engineer.

Marija Bruckovic, for Aydin, said it was Davies who had set up the enterprise in June 2012 and that she only became involved in early 2013.

She was paid a wage for answering telephones and giving lifts to girls. It changed in May 2013 when Davies was jailed and she took over responsibility but remained under his direction.

For Mangion, John Blanford said she had worked in the sex industry all her adult life and that the working women in her flat provided her with some company.

Judge Stephen Warner told Davies: "There is an element of exploitation involved in these sort of offences.

“There is an impact on the public - not least the neighbours who have to live in proximity to it."

He jailed him for 22 months. Aydin received a seven month sentence, suspended for 18 months with 200 hours unpaid work.

Mangion received a six month sentence suspended for 18 months.

A confiscation hearing is to be held at a later date.