Priest ‘asked prostitutes to dress as nuns’

Ananova, Thursday 8 May 2003

Police say an Italian priest who asked prostitutes to dress as nuns was among the clients of a brothel raided by the vice squad.

Officers refuse to name the priest, but say he was a regular customer of the high-class brothel which had dozens of women, including students and housewives, on its books.

Police say Anna Maria Passarotto, 59, who ran the business, told officers the priest was a client after they found a nun's habit in the third floor flat.

They also recovered hundreds of hard core videos and photographs as well as whips, masks and handcuffs during the raid in Verona.

Marco Odoriso, the head of Verona's Flying Squad, said: “We have been told that a priest from Parma was a regular client of the brothel, and he liked the women to wear the nun's habit.

“It would not be fair to name him at this moment, but we will be speaking to him as part of the investigation.”

He added that clients of the brothel were charged between £120 and £300 a time, depending on the service they required.