A FATHER-OF-FOUR, who kept five brothels at properties in Bradford, has been jailed for two years.

Romanian man Nicolae Constantin, 34, moved his operation from one terraced property to another as neighbours became suspicious, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Jailing him, Judge Jonathan Rose told Constantin he had turned to the prostitution industry because he regarded it as easy money.

Judge Rose said: "It was money you would make through the involvement of women in an industry that I doubt any of them wished to be involved with.

"It was money you would make with little or no regard for the welfare of those women."

Judge Rose said distress and upset was caused to neighbours who knew brothels were operating on their streets.

He told Constantin: "You are a man who could have earned a legitimate living, but instead engaged in criminal enterprises for greed."

Constantin, of Ilford Lane, Ilford, London, pleaded guilty to five charges of keeping a brothel used for prostitution, at dates between September 2014 and August 2015.

The brothels were all set up in rented terraced properties, at Brompton Road, West Bowling; Hampden Place, Little Horton; Ackworth Street, West Bowling; Airedale Crescent, Undercliffe; and Spring Mill Street, West Bowling.

Prosecutor Jayne Beckett told the court she did not dispute Constantin's basis of plea, which accepted the brothels were a commercial enterprise, but the workers were not under the age of consent, were not coerced, and had identity documents.

Mrs Beckett said the defendant was under separate investigation by the Metropolitan Police for similar matters.

She told the court Constantin had served prison sentences in Spain, for theft, and Italy, for robbery.

Mrs Beckett said in each case, vice squad officers entered the Bradford premises and found them to be operating as brothels, after receiving information from the public.

She said officers found several women working as prostitutes in different rooms. Cash and ledgers were also on the premises.

Mrs Beckett said: "There were also paying customers present who have been prepared to provide statements to police. Some of them were caught in compromising positions."

She said police were able to link adverts on websites for escorts and adult services to the properties.

The court heard that Constantin was linked to the addresses in a number of ways, including paying for the adverts with his credit card. He was also identified by landlords as the person signing tenancy agreements or paying cash for rent.

Judge Rose said it could not be suggested it was the limit of the defendant's offending and there was evidence Constantin was behind other adverts for similar services to be provided in other cities.

In mitigation, Constantin's barrister, Dhaneshar Sharma, said the defendant had not run the brothels simultaneously but moved them from one place to another.

But Judge Rose told Constantin: "You knew that after a relatively short period of time, complaints would be made about a brothel in a particular area, and so you abandoned another rental property for a new brothel, and you did so because you feared the police would catch you."

He told the defendant he would return to court in September when it would consider steps to be taken to confiscate what he had made from his criminal activity."