A FAMILY from Bricket Wood led a lavish lifestyle on the proceeds of a thriving brothel a court heard today (Tuesday). Emily Murphy, 48, husband Owen, 51, and her daughter Rose, 25, allegedly bought a house, cars and holidays with the money from the vice den in

A FAMILY from Bricket Wood led a lavish lifestyle on the proceeds of a thriving brothel a court heard today (Tuesday).

Emily Murphy, 48, husband Owen, 51, and her daughter Rose, 25, allegedly bought a house, cars and holidays with the money from the vice den in Camden, London.

All three, who are standing trial at Southwark Crown Court, deny conspiracy to commit false accounting and conceal criminal property.

Mrs Murphy, of Mount Pleasant Lane, is also accused of controlling prostitution.

Prosecutor Edmund Vickers said she ran a known 'nuisance brothel' in Euston Road for two years between June 2006 and 2008.

The court heard that the Murphys stashed �45,000 cash in a safety deposit box, and used money from the brothel to buy a brand-new �200,000 flat in The Uplands, Bricket Wood for Rose.

Mrs Murphy allegedly splashed out on cars and holidays while both mother and daughter used false passports to conceal the origin of their fortune from banks and landlords.

Mrs Murphy, said to be known to her prostitutes as Lulu, was arrested in June 2008.

Mr Vickers said that police later seized her phone to find text messages showing takings were just under �2,000 on a bad night, and further evidence relating to the running of the business.

He said the takings were used for rent, holidays and flash cars, while large unexplained sums of money were also deposited in Mrs Murphy's bank accounts.

Mrs Murphy, originally from Nairobi in Kenya, married Owen Murphy, a businessman from Cork in Ireland in 2005, and Rose took her stepfather's surname.

But Mrs Murphy allegedly used a fake Irish passport to rent the Euston Road property and her daughter did the same to support her mortgage application for her house, it is claimed.

The trial continues.