A BROTHEL keeper wept after an Appeal Court judge freed her from prison so that she can care for her severely disabled daughter.

Successful businesswoman Vanessa Coleman, who ran two houses of ill repute in Bournemouth, amassed a £640,000 turnover in immoral earnings in just 13 months.

She was jailed for eight months at Bournemouth Crown Court last month after admitting two charges of running venues for prostitution and four offences of possessing counterfeit goods.

But Mr Justice Gray, sitting with Mr Justice McCombe at London's Appeal Court, yesterday slashed Coleman's sentence to two months.

He suspended her six-month sentence for the brothel keeping charges and Coleman, who recently celebrated her 60th birthday in prison, was released having served the two-month sentence imposed on the counterfeit goods charges relating to handbags and purses bearing fake designer labels.

Mr Justice Gray described Coleman, formerly of Wolverton Road, Boscombe, as "a fair employer". He said none of the "working girls" had been coerced into prostitution and even the investigating officer had described her as "compassionate and caring".

He added that the brothels had been "well run and hygienically kept".

Lawyers for Coleman had argued that the sentence was too long, citing the plight of her 28-year-old daughter as "an exceptional circumstance".

Coleman contacted the Daily Echo from her cell at Eastwood Park prison to complain about the way she had been treated.

She said she had lost her home, her assets and her disabled daughter had been made homeless. "I accept I have lost all my assets, I've already lost my livelihood and since being in prison have been evicted from my home," she said.

"This has resulted in me being separated from my daughter who has disabilities, and she has been made homeless."

Clients at Coleman's brothels in Christchurch Road and Wimborne Road, who included doctors, lawyers and business figures, paid £60 for half an hour.