Dublin man convicted of running brothel

A Dublin man has been convicted of running a Dublin city centre brothel which was targeted in a major An Garda Síochána investigation into organised criminal prostitution called "Quest" set up in 2005.

Martin "The Beast" Morgan (44) was found guilty by a jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court of organising prostitution and running a brothel at a Bachelor’s Walk apartment on dates from August 22 to October 10, 2005

The jury returned its unanimous guilty verdict on both counts following more than 11 hours deliberation.

Morgan formerly of Herbert Road, Blanchardstown and with an address at Blackstock Road, London denied three charges at the start of his trial which is now entering its 18th day.

Judge O’Donnell withdrew the third charge that Morgan allowed the apartment to be used for prostitution on the same dates and directed the jury to return a "not guilty" verdict on it.

Morgan was arrested with an English woman called Deena Edridge when gardaí under the direction of Detective Inspector Pat Lordon raided the Bachelor’s Walk apartment on the night of October 10, 2005 following a surveillance operation which began in August 2005.

Edridge was jailed for 12 months last April after pleading guilty to allowing the Bachelor’s Walk apartment be used as a brothel.

She claimed in evidence on day-16 of Morgan’s trial that she owned "the whole escort operation" but that she let her ‘employees’ believe there was someone else in charge because she had been robbed twice in Ireland and because of the numerous garda raids on her ‘business’.

She agreed with prosecuting counsel, Mr Fergal Foley BL, that the brothel "made several thousand euro on average per day" but denied she would earn €2m a year as ‘the owner’, saying: "A lot of the money was put back in the business."

Edridge also agreed with Mr Foley that she made a profit of €4,100 from the 7pm - 5am shift on October 6, 2005 which she said was "the least busy day" that week.

She told defence counsel, Mr Michael O’Higgins SC (with Mr Sean Gillane BL) that Morgan was a "good friend" with whom she "occasionally slept".

Two other premises at Malton House in the International Financial Services Centre district which was used as a ‘call-centre’ for the brothel operation and an apartment at Herbert Lane in the Ballsbridge area were also raided by gardaí involved in the "Quest" project on the same night.

Documents including business details and a cache of mobile telephones used in the brothel operation were recovered by the gardaí. One of these phones had the number "666" clearly marked above the screen.

Edridge claimed in her evidence in the Morgan trial that she leased five premises for the brothel operation: the apartments at Bachelor’s Walk, Herbert Lane and Malton House as well as two other premises at Donnybrook Court and at Ardee House, Rathmines.