Women led away as children play in schoolyard.

POLICE swooped on a suspected brothel opposite a Roman Catholic primary school in the latest round of their fight against vice in York.

Two women, dressed in matching white uniforms and high heels, were arrested and led from the building in Fishergate as children played outside at nearby St George's RC Primary School.

The women were taken to the nearby Fulford Road police station after the raid by ten officers from the criminal intelligence unit and the combined operations group.

Two men in the premises at the time gave "full and frank" statements to officers before being allowed to leave, and a third was arrested and questioned.

The raid follows a three-month surveillance operation and reinforces the anti-vice message sent out when police conducted a similar raid on a brothel in Nunnery Lane last May.

Both raids were carried out after complaints to police from members of the public concerned about the activities going on in their neighbourhoods.

Detective Sergeant Phil Roberts, who led both operations, said: "We took this action because this premises is in a residential area opposite a school and on one of the main approaches to the city."

DS Roberts said there had been concern expressed to police by parents with children at the school who feared their children could be at risk.

He said the operation had been conducted at times when officers were not tracking drug dealers and registered sex offenders. People living near the premises, which is on the corner of Sandringham Street, said they had observed men visiting the address for about five months.

One, who asked not to be named, said that the alleged brothel had been so busy at times that men could be seen hanging around outside the building waiting for their turn. He added that men aged from 20 to 85 had been observed going in.

DS Roberts said business had picked up at the Fishergate site after the police raid on the brothel in Nunnery Lane.

He added: "Brothels will not be tolerated in York."

Dave Jones, whose five-year-old daughter Sophie goes to the school, said he was glad the premises had been raided.

"I was not too comfortable having that sort of thing going on across the road from her school," he said.

Norman Fowler, headteacher of St George's, said: "There was a lot of concern among parents that this kind of activity was going on so close to the school."

Two women and one man have been questioned and released on police bail.

A third woman was arrested later in the evening and bailed.

PICTURE: A woman in a white uniform is led away in handcuffs by undercover

police, following the raid on the premises in Fishergate