ONLY a fraction of the profits made by a couple who ran a brothel at a luxurious house will be paid back, a court has been told.

It was calculated that John Fellingham, 55, had personally benefitted by more than £90,000 from the racket which he ran with his wife Laura Phillips in the sleepy village of North Gorley, near Fordingbridge.

Southampton Crown Court heard that Fellingham, of Linwood, near Ringwood, was bankrupt with debts, and his only assets were a £5,000 Land Rover and about £1,700 in cash which was seized from him on arrest.

Recorder Stephen Parish made a confiscation order covering both amounts and gave him three months to pay or face four months' jail.

In September, the court heard how Fellingham and his now estranged wife had jointly made more than £160,000 from running the brothel where they employed 13 girls aged between 21 and 35.

Vice squad officers raided the upmarket £1,400 a month property following concerns by neighbours about the number of vehicles and regular male callers.

Fellingham, who admitted assisting in the management of the business, received a six-month suspended sentence.

Phillips, 36, also of Linwood, near Ringwood, admitted two charges of running a brothel and was handed a seven-month suspended sentence plus 200 hours' unpaid work.

Prosecutor Tim Moores told the court how police investigations led them to another brothel in Shirley, Southampton, which was also run by Phillips and where another girl worked.

Confiscation proceedings against her were adjourned in her absence.