20 Jul 2026
A St Albans landlord reveals how his rental property was used as a brothel in tonight’s episode of BBC television documentary series Panorama.
An investigation by reporter Hazel Martin uncovered how criminal gangs are obtaining homes through reputable letting companies, with landlords believing standard tenancy checks had been carried out.
But false ID and references are used to obtain the keys to properties which are then used for a variety of illegal pursuits.
The programme – ‘There’s a Gangster in my Flat’ – asks why those responsible can avoid prosecution despite evidence a property was used for criminal activity, resulting in landlords having to pursue possession through long and lengthy civil courts action.
Well-known local photographer and property developer Craig Shepheard revealed how he discovered his city centre flat was being used by sex workers.
Meeting BBC reporter Hazel in The Mermaid pub, he explained how four years ago he took on a new tenant who said he was working as a courier.
He revealed: “The vast majority of my tenants are absolutely lovely, and I provide good quality, really nice places to live. I was using a professional lettings agency, and they got this chap in who passed all of the tenancy checks.”
Everything seemed OK for the first few months, but then rental payments stopped and complaints from neighbours started.
Craig recalled the conversations: “We’ve got issues with your tenant. We think they might be smoking cannabis. They’ve blacked out both sets of the windows, which is really weird.”
The situation then escalated, with reports of men visiting the flat at night. When the tenant told him the washing machine wasn’t working, Craig took the opportunity to investigate.
He told Hazel: “I found, how do I put it? Some sexual paraphernalia in one of the cupboards!”
Craig suspected the flat was being used as a brothel, so he called the police, who began investigating but said they needed more evidence to obtain a search warrant.
So he turned detective, and started filming men going into the flat. The following week he told the tenant he needed to do an inspection.
“I literally opened the door and there was a double bed there with a blonde, naked lady covered in tattoos fast asleep! We then came through into the second bedroom, and there was another double bed with a man and a lady asleep. She woke up and screamed because there was a strange bloke standing in the doorway.
“The first lady woke up and came out with a dressing gown on and that’s when I started having a conversation with them…”
As seen on the television programme, Craig secretly filmed what one of the women told him, and she left a message for the person she was paying rent to. Speaking in a foreign language which he later translated, she accused Craig of being a nuisance and said they had a client there in the flat.
Herts police later told Craig they were part of an organised prostitution ring, run by a network in Brazil.
“They admitted they were sex workers, paying £400 each per week for the availability of that room.”
Craig said the police told him the gang operated pop-up brothels, moving women to flats across England. They used a small, local letting agency who met the tenant and saw proof of ID, but it wasn’t what it seemed.
“As it turned out when the Immigration Service checked the copy of the passport they said it was one of the best forgeries they had ever seen.”
The real identity of Craig’s tenant was never discovered and the two sex workers vanished. Running a brothel is a criminal offence, but under housing law across the UK his tenant could still hold onto the property.
Fortunately Craig’s solicitor tracked down the tenant and persuaded him to give up the flat.
“There was four and a half months of unpaid rent plus a £4,500 repair bill just to get the property back onto the rental market.”
Herts police told Panorama they closed the case due to a lack of evidence.
Craig added: “I had done everything right and made sure the tenant had been checked ‘officially’ through a professional lettings agent. After all the shenanigans about getting the police involved to carry out a search warrant and finally getting the tenant evicted and getting the property decorated, it’s crazy, it’s just too much hassle for not enough gain.”
The programme can be seen tonight on BBC1 and on iPlayer now.
