A WOMAN accused of living a lavish lifestyle with the proceeds of a thriving brothel has insisted that she had no part in running the vice den and was just one of the prostitutes. As previously reported by the Herts Advertiser, Emily Murphy, 48, from Moun

A WOMAN accused of living a lavish lifestyle with the proceeds of a thriving brothel has insisted that she had no part in running the vice den and was just one of the prostitutes.

As previously reported by the Herts Advertiser, Emily Murphy, 48, from Mount Pleasant Lane, Bricket Wood, allegedly ran a brothel in Camden between 2006 and 2008 and splashed out on cars, a house and holidays with takings of at least �2,000 a night.

She is standing trial at Southwark Crown Court alongside her 25-year-old daughter Rose, who is accused of using part of the proceeds on a �200,000 flat in The Uplands, Bricket Wood.

The pair allegedly stashed away �45,000 cash and used fake Irish passports to conceal the origin of their fortune from banks and landlords.

Both deny conspiracy to commit false accounting, concealing criminal property and possessing false ID documents.

Kenyan-born Mrs Murphy, who came to the UK in 1997 and started working as a prostitute, denies a further charge of controlling prostitution for gain.

Giving evidence this week, she said: "I was just one of the working girls. I didn't take anyone's money or tell them what to do. I did what everyone else did as a working girl."

The case against her husband, Owen Murphy, a businessman from Cork, was dropped after the judge ruled there was no case to answer.

Mrs Murphy was arrested in June 2007 following a four month investigation by police during which time she had allegedly been seen by undercover officers visiting the property.

Printed time sheets for the prostitutes and notes to them were allegedly found in Mrs Murphy's handwriting signed 'Lulu,' along with matching documents found in two of her cars and incriminating texts.

The case continues.