A Bradford mum who was allowed by police to run a lucrative brothel for years spent £15,000 on a luxury cruise, a court heard.

Sharon Land, 50, ran The Executive, in Armley, Leeds, with the help of her son and daughter, which made nearly £100,000 in two and a half years, Bradford Crown Court was told today.

Land, of Thornfield Place, Eccleshill, bought the lease for the property in 1998 in the belief the brothel would be permitted to be run, as it had for many years, her barrister, Bryan Cox, QC, told Judge Peter Benson.

"The police were aware that these premises were running as a brothel," said Mr Cox.

"It is plain that over the years there have been differing approaches to off-street prostitution depending on the area and police authority involved.

"In some, off-street brothels were prosecuted, in others they were not - they were tolerated. West Yorkshire, and certainly Leeds, was in the latter category."

Prosecutor Richard Woolfall said the brothel was open seven days a week and £8,000 was spent advertising the premises as a massage parlour in newspapers. It was also advertised in Yellow Pages and on the internet.

Land ran the brothel. Her son, Chezeri Wyrill, 25, described as her right hand man, worked in reception and as a doorman, and her daughter Shelley Wyrill, 21, was a receptionist.

When police raided the premises, at 5.15am, in September last year, 11 male customers were present and a similar number of prostitutes. A large plastic bag of condoms was found behind the reception desk.

Mr Woolfall said Land had paid £15,000 in cash for a three-month cruise on the Oriana. She was arrested before she could go on it. Her son was able to buy a £6,500 car.

Land pleaded guilty to keeping a brothel and was given a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years and ordered to do 150 hours' unpaid community work.

Her son, of Chapel Street, Eccleshill, pleaded guilty to assisting in the management of a brothel and was sentenced to six months imprisonment suspended for two years, with 100 hours' unpaid work.

Shelley Wyrill, of Thornfield Place, who was the least involved, was given a 12-month Community Order with supervision and ordered to do 60 hours unpaid work after pleading guilty to assisting in the management of a brothel.

Three other people - David Knott, 51, his wife Lorraine, 47, of Bramley, Leeds, and Marcus Doyle, 33, of Churwell, Morley - were given suspended sentences and ordered to do unpaid work after admitting keeping three other brothels, one of them in Bradford.

The premises had websites which showed naked pictures of the prostitutes, who were English, European and Far Eastern. Prices ranged from £35 to £700 for an overnight stay in a VIP room with two prostitutes.

Judge Benson told the defendants: "This activity has become known as the sex industry. It involves at its root the employment and exploitation of women who must in the overwhelming majority of cases be vulnerable. The Knotts and Land were making substantial sums of money."