Two men set up a brothel with the help of their partners in a town centre.

Alex Nicolae Eftimie, 26, and Samuel Corneliu Calin, 27, had two women working for them at a house in Saunders Road, Blackburn.

Emma Kehoe, prosecuting at Preston Crown Court said police raided the house in September and noted it was clearly set up to be operated as a brothel.

Eftimie and Calin, along with another man and two women were found in the property.

The three men were arrested, and the women were spoken to by police, and one of the women was taken to the hospital as she was pregnant.

Mobile phones were seized from the men with clear evidence showing Eftimie and Salin having accessed websites to sell sex services and contact being made with those looking for sexual services.

There was also evidence of financial gain, with the brothel being used to fund the lifestyle of both Eftimie and Calin and their partners and families.

The court heard there was no force or coercion involved in getting the women to participate.

Mitigating for Calin, of St Marys Road, Doncaster, Zahra Baqri said his client and his wife ‘ran the enterprise’, with Calin’s wife ‘actively involved in the social media profiles, transferring money and sometimes negotiating of fees'.

Ms Baqri also said Calin has no relevant previous convictions and he was looking to move back to Romania after serving his prison sentence to take on a job in construction.

Mitigating for Eftimie, Jimmy Vakil, said that the defendant ‘remains in a loving relationship’ with his partner, who was also involved in the brothel, and also reiterated there was no evidence to show any kind of force or coercion with those involved.

Sentencing the men, Judge Guy Mathieson said: “You are two men who together with your partners set up a prostitution business.

“You were caught red handed working in the brothel.

“This was a professional business, run out of an address in Blackburn designed to make money whilst the women did the hard work.

“I have no doubt that you controlled the advertising of their services, controlled the finances and controlled the access to the prostitutes.

“This was a business set up to support four adults and their families.”

Efftimie and Calin, both Romanian nationals, each pleaded guilty to one count of controlling prostitution for gain, and were jailed for two years and have been made subject to automatic deportation upon their release.