THE man who used a Barnton Street flat to help pocket more than £150,000 through a cross-country prostitution ring is to be sentenced later this month.

Jose Barbosa, originally from Brazil, admitted trafficking women to and from the Stirling address and others in central Scotland for almost two years.

The 44-year-old appeared at the High Court in Edinburgh on Monday (October 5) charged with arranging and facilitating the movement of women for the purposes of prostitution.

His defence agent said there was no evidence that the women had been coerced, and the trafficking itself was restricted to taking them between addresses.

In August 2013, police were given intelligence that Barbosa, using the alias of Alexander Marques, was involved in organised prostitution.

A surveillance operation, codename Wolfberry, was set up to investigate his movements and he was observed regularly travelling to flats in Kirkcaldy, Dunfermline, Hamilton, Stirling, Falkirk, Perth, Alva and, Dundee - sometimes in the company of females.

Undercover cops then set up a sting and were given a price for sex.

A search of Barbosa's home address in Kirkcaldy found tenancy agreements for the rented flats and documentation connecting him with advert placement on adult websites.

Police then launched raids on the flats in May 2015, uncovering sex workers at almost every address.

Inquiries revealed that despite no legitimate source of income, Barbosa deposited £150,852 in various bank accounts.

Lord Matthews deferred sentence until October 13 at the High Court in Glasgow.