Mafia link of madam who lured the young

The full extent of British madam Margaret MacDonald's prostitution ring can be revealed today.

The convent-educated call girl operator regularly scoured Europe for eligible prostitutes and worked with mafia figures and the smugglers of illegal immigrants to find girls to work for her.

Far from simply providing escorts for lonely men to talk to - as she told the Paris court where she was today sentenced to four years for prostitution - MacDonald tapped into a mafia-organised peoplesmuggling operation that lured girls from Eastern Europe to Greece under the pretext of offering them legitimate work.

Once illegally inside Greece the girls were forced to work as hostesses and prostitutes in sleazy nightclubs.

MacDonald routinely met organised crime figures and cherry-picked the bestlooking girls for her escort businesses.

Greek vice squad officials said they watched MacDonald on four visits in 2001 and two in 2002 before she was arrested in France. They said: "She would travel up to Thessaloniki. There she would meet up with a network that brought girls from the Ukraine, Moldavia, Bulgaria and Albania.

"It's run by organised crime rings. They would put adverts in local newspapers in these countries, offering the girls jobs at restaurants or hotels, as well as promising to arrange their documents.

"But once they came to Greece they were lured under various pretexts into the prostitution business. And because they were illegal there was little they could do.

"The gangs would literally 'sell' or 'rent' them to clubs or to high-class brothels, for an average fee of between 500,000 and one million drachmas (£1,000 to £2,000) per month.

"MacDonald was interested in selecting only the most attractive ones, and especially those who spoke English, French or another foreign language. The prices requested in Greece were very cheap for her, but despite the large numbers coming over, she complained she could not find enough of the quality of beauty she was looking for."

Police said they began tracing her activities over the past three years after being notified by Interpol and Europol, which had apparently been notified in turn by French and British authorities.

Greek police said: "She often had young, attractive women and wealthy Greeks and foreigners in her company, but we did not have enough hard evidence of her prostitution activities to justify an arrest."

In court MacDonald insisted she was unaware her girls were prostitutes. She said: "As far as I was concerned, they were just providing company for lonely men. I was not aware any sex was taking place."

She was backed by former employee Axelle Guerin, 28, who claimed to have earned £3,000 a month sleeping with rich clients but insisted MacDonald probably never knew sex was taking place.

However, Judge Jacqueline Rebeyrott said MacDonald "made every girl who worked for her sign a contract saying they wouldn't have sex, even though they understood they had to have sex when they were charging so much for their company".

When MacDonald was arrested last year, police seized a briefcase containing 14 mobile phones and a laptop computer holding information on what they claim was a list of her employees worldwide. According to police, she placed her earnings in offshore bank accounts. By operating out of nondescript hotel rooms and always keeping on the move, she managed to avoid paying any tax on them.

Paris vice squad chief Daniel Rigourd said: "The operation she ran was far, far bigger than any call girl ring we've ever come across."

Ms Guerin called the verdict " scandalous, scandalous, scandalous", adding: "It's hypocritical. The slaves you see on the street when you drive home tonight - they are prostitutes. I think it is totally unfair and I am very unhappy."