SHE raked in tens of thousands of pounds running three brothels across Southampton and charging men £150 an hour to sleep with her "girls".

Today though "madam" Sharon Moir is waking up behind bars after she was jailed for three years for running a major part of Southampton's sex industry.

Moir, 47, who the judge branded a "greedy" woman, was found guilty of three charges of running brothels, one charge of inciting prostitution for personal gain and three charges of controlling prostitution for personal gain following a trial last month.

Frightened' During the court case the jury heard from several of Moir's "girls" who told how they had been left scared and frightened working for her, claiming she was never there when they needed help and that she was often too drunk to answer the agency's phones.

The women also told how Moir would send them out to see clients with known bad reputations and that she would pester the girls to take on more clients even when they had told her they wanted to go home.

The mother-of-two was also said to have punished the girls, who can't be named for legal reasons, when they refused her demands by with-holding business from them.

During the two-week trial Southampton Crown Court was also told how Moir, who drove around in a car modified to look like a Ferrari, had earned thousands of pounds from the agency sometimes taking dozens of bookings a day. The girls would charge the men £150 an hour, with £50 of that going to Moir.

Moir, who even let her own home in Sholing Road be used as a brothel, also said the girls could charge more if they were willing to let the men perform unusual or degrading sex acts on them.

She was eventually arrested by Southampton's dedicated vice squad following complaints from neighbours and after an undercover police sting operation.

Though she always maintained she had only told the girls to charge for their time, the jury rejected her claim and instead found she had been selling at least four of her girls for sexual services.

In British law being an escort girl and charging for your time is legal, provided any sexual activity that occurs during the date' is simply a consensual decision between two adults.

Handing out his sentence Judge Christopher Leigh QC, said: "One of the matters which struck me most strongly was that you were greedy and you made your girls work hard."

Tearful Moir sat motionless as the judge delivered the three-year sentence before blowing a kiss to tearful relatives and friends as she was led from the dock.

After the hearing, the officer in charge of the case said the sentence would send out a defiant message that crimes of this nature would not be tolerated.

PC Claire Lyons told the Daily Echo: "Hopefully it will deter others from exploiting girls in the sex industry."

Moir also faces a proceeds of crime application later this autumn, which could see all the assets she took in from the escort agency taken away by the authorities.

BEHIND BARS: Sharon Moir