A woman who masterminded the UK's biggest Thai prostitute racket from an address in Worthing has been jailed for five years.

Bupha Savada, 45, of Cypress Avenue, was the ringleader of a gang which plucked scores of girls from poverty in the Far East, offering them a life of luxury in Britain.

But Savada's empty promises hid an evil plan to supply girls as young as 16 to a chain of brothels in and around London.

There the terrified women, most of whom expected to be earning fortunes as cleaners, were forced to sell their bodies in the hope of buying back their freedom while their passports were kept under lock and key, Southwark Crown Court heard.

The prostitution racket was exposed by undercover police who posed as clients for nine months from January last year.

After Savada's arrest it emerged that the gang's 36 prostitutes had been brought into the country as illegal immigrants before being placed in a "finishing school" type of brothel in Wimbledon and later sold on to other brothels.

One of the prostitutes, an 18-year-old, clutched a teddy bear as she told the court how she was duped into quitting a noodle stall in Bangkok to work for the gang.

But when she arrived in England she was told the cleaning job did not exist.

She was forced to hand over her cash. Savada threatened to torch her family's home if she tried to escape.

She said: "I did not even know what a brothel was before I left Thailand.

"I was told I would have to sell my body because Savada was not a charity. I was not happy about that."

Savada admitted four charges of controlling prostitution in relation to the Wimbledon brothel and others in London and Essex.

Among those working alongside her were her sister Monporn Hughes, 41, and Savada's common-law husband, Sri Lankan Pathirange Ranasinghe, 33.

Judge Paul Dodgson said the three had treated the women like "animals" and were in "total control of their lives".

Jailing Savada for five years, he said: "This is one of the most serious cases of controlling prostitution as is possible to imagine.

"You were all involved in varying degrees in the scheme of bringing young women from Thailand to work as prostitutes in this country.

"Once in this country these girls would be totally in your control."

Hughes was jailed for three-and-a-half years and Ranasinghe for two years.

Judge Dodgson recommended that Ranasinghe and Savada, whose daughter is at university in Japan, be deported.

After the hearing it emerged that Savada, who denied duping girls into working for her, was deported from the UK in 1999.

She was found in a brothel and thrown out of the country as an illegal immigrant.

Police believe her organisation turned over £1.1 million a year.

A confiscation hearing to determine the gang's wealth will take place on July 11.

Speaking outside court, Sgt Mark Woolridge from the Met's Clubs and Vice Unit said: "This is certainly the biggest Thai prostitute operation the country has ever seen."