Sex for sale just yards from Church Assembly

SEX is for sale just yards from the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland on The Mound, and next door to a school for ministers.

An Italian prostitute has begun offering sexual services for 100 an hour from a private flat on North Bank Street with a panoramic view of the Capital.

The flat in the Mound Apartments is beside the offices and college of the Free Church of Scotland, a stone's throw from the building which will next week host the annual assembly of 850 ministers, and close to the historic Bank of Scotland headquarters.

The vice girl, who said she was 23 years old and called Daniella, claimed to work alone from the flat which was a "discreet place" and "not a brothel".

A number of vice girls are known to operate from private flats in the city at any one time, many of them coming from abroad for short stays in the Capital before moving on. Police say they monitor the use of private flats to sell sex, a trade which flourishes between the street prostitutes and the city's collection of saunas.

When the Evening News visited the flat in the A-listed 18th century building, our reporter was buzzed up to the eighth floor. An hour earlier, Daniella had answered the telephone call for a booking and freely given out directions. She described herself as "5ft 11in, with long dark hair, a model figure, 36D, and dark eyes".

Wearing four-inch heels and an orange and blue bikini, she invited our reporter into a spacious one-bedroom flat. The curtains were drawn, with only a dim lamp next to a neatly made-up bed in the far corner. Ambient music was playing on low volume from a set of speakers and an Italian copy of Vogue magazine lay on a table between two upholstered chairs.

Daniella said that her prices started at 100 for a "massage and full sex", with longer stays also available.

When asked how long she planned to stay in Edinburgh, she replied she was "not sure".

At that point, our reporter made an excuse to leave.

Outside tourists took photographs of the General Assembly building while elderly men and women made their way in and out of the Free Church of Scotland offices.

Minutes after our reporter left, a man in his 50s turned up at the white front door, and after a quick call on his mobile was buzzed inside.

Similar one-bedroom flats at The Mound Apartment, described as "penthouse-style", are rented out for "self-catering vacational stays and business trips" at a cost of 270 a week.

A spokesman for the Church of Scotland said it had "no comment" on the illicit business nearby, while the Free Church of Scotland could not be reached for comment.

A spokeswoman for Lothian and Borders Police said: "We welcome any new information that can assist us in identifying premises being used for the purposes of prostitution."