Published: 17 March, 2014
by ALICE HUTTON

A BROTHEL madam threatened with spending a decade behind bars if she did not return more than £1.3million has disappeared after prison authorities allowed her to be released prematurely.  

Li Ying, 49, was jailed for five years in 2011 for operating one of the most prolific prostitution rings in the United Kingdom.

For six years the former West Hampstead resident headed up 12 brothels from Camden to Buckinghamshire, amassing more than £1.3million which police suspected was laundered out of the country through bank accounts in China.

The operation was busted in June 2008 after officers found £150,000 in cash and a false passport belonging to Ms Ying in a box during a high-profile raid at the Hampstead Safe Depository in Finchley Road.

In March last year, eight months before she was due for release, Ms Ying was told her sentence would be doubled if the gains were not returned to the public purse.

But Camden Police tonight (Monday) issued a search plea to trace her after it was revealed she had gone missing after being released from prison – before she had paid the fine.  

Police sources said it was believed she had been released between September and December last year and that she had long since left the country.

No information was available tonight on which prison Ms Ying was being held in or how her release came about.  

Detective Constable Richard Johnson, of the Specialist and Economic Crime Command, said in March last year that the double sentence threat should “serve as a lesson to all other criminals who think they can hide their ill-gotten gains from the Met".

A statement from Camden Police said that Ms Ying, who also goes by numerous aliases including Ying Li, Ying Lewis, Li Lewis and Sun Qian, was “wanted on recall to prison and for non-payment of fines to the amount of £1.3 million, money unlawfully acquired by controlling prostitution. Police would like to hear from anyone who may know where she is”.

Ms Ying was found guilty of controlling prostitution, concealing criminal property and three counts of money laundering in July 2011.  

In March last year at Southwark Crown Court she was told she must pay the full £1,338,891 she made within six months.