A WOMAN who ran a £35-a-time brothel in a York residential street told a court she had set out to run a legitimate massage parlour.

She told magistrates it was only when two co-workers yielded to customers' demands for sex that the business became a brothel.

Louise Gaile Manners, 25, of Hazelwood Gardens, Harehills, Leeds, admitted keeping a brothel in Nunnery Lane between March and May this year.

Magistrates were told how complaints from residents sparked a police surveillance operation and as a result, 20 to 30 men a day were spotted trooping in and out of the house on half-hour visits.

Steven Ovenden, prosecuting, said police, who video-taped the comings and goings at the house, had also seen Manners bring several women to the premises. When officers raided the house last month they found two women from Leeds and a man from the Midlands. Mr Ovenden said of the man: "He had gone there after seeing an advert in a local paper and he confirmed prostitution was taking place."

The price of "services" was £35 a time - £10 of which went into a central pot controlled by Manners.

Mr Ovenden said: "She told police she had been renting the premises as a massage parlour, but that she was aware the girls were offering sex. She confirmed she had also offered herself to clients for sex."

Ruth Bundy, defending, said: "This has been no high-powered business with her as a madam. It has been something of a naive enterprise."

Manners and two friends had rented the house for £250 a week at the start of the year, having been told it was licensed as a massage parlour.

"But the genuine business swiftly turned into something else," said Ms Bundy.

She said Manners, who was jailed in November 1997 for supplying a controlled drug, "turned a blind eye" when the other women started supplying sex and had only offered herself for sex on two occasions when the "business" was short-staffed.

Manners had only made £50 per week from the kitty after paying bills, said Ms Bundy.

The case was adjourned until June 29 for pre-sentence reports, and Manners was granted unconditional bail.