A madam who ran 12 brothels is wanted by police after she disappeared without paying back the huge profits amassed from her prostitution empire.

Li Ying, previously of Fortune Green Road, Fortune Green, was last March ordered to pay £1.3million to the authorities within six months or face a further five years in jail.

She was already serving a five year prison sentence when the confiscation order was made, after being found guilty of controlling prostitution, concealing criminal property and three counts of money laundering in July 2011.

But despite not having returned a penny, she was released in October and has now gone missing.

The 49-year-old’s empire had been discovered after officers came across a safe deposit box containing £150,000 and her fake passport at the Hampstead Safe Depository, Finchley Road, in June 2008.

Further investigation revealed a network of brothels in Camden, Barnet, Brent, Ealing, Harrow and Wandsworth, as well as in Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

She was said to have amassed £1.3million during six years in charge of the operation.

Police are now attempting to track her down and have appealed to the public for help, although they fear she may have fled the country.

She is said to have links throughout London and the Home Counties and to use several aliases, including Ying Li, Ying Lewis, Li Lewis and Sun Qian.

If anyone has information they are asked to contact Camden Police’s Identified Suspects Unit via 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or at www.crimestoppers-uk.org.