Lee, a former magistrate, faces a jail sentence after spending £250,000, much of it stolen from his employer, to have his house in Egerton, Greater Manchester, kept clean and shipshape. His domestic servant, however, was no ordinary Mrs Mopp; she was a prostitute.

No known sexual encounter was involved in the arrangement. Lee simply liked to watch his home being dusted and vacuumed, his bed made, his washing up done, his dining table polished and his kitchen sink cleaned by a woman naked save for a pair of rubber gloves.

The combination of sexpot and Hoover driver, of bomb in the bedroom and lackey in the lounge, may be a common male fantasy, but in Lee’s case the funding of his fetish nearly bankrupted the company that he worked for, Bolton Crown Court was told yesterday.

Lee, 59, spent £20,000 of his own savings musing over the erotic thrill of the Marigolds. Then he ran up £80,000 in credit card bills, but even that was not enough. He turned to Alec’s Three Piece Suite Warehouse in Great Lever, Greater Manchester, where he was employed as the trusted company secretary, and siphoned off £164,124 of the company’s money, driving the furniture shop to the verge of ruin.

Such was the lure of the dirty domestics that Lee continued to purloin money from his employer even after Alec Bromley, the shop’s owner, told him that the business appeared to be drifting into financial difficulties. And all the while the call girl was waving her feather duster wearing not so much as a French maid’s apron.

Lee finally turned himself in to the police when his household bills ran completely out of control and he was refused further credit on the company’s account. He pleaded guilty to theft and will be sentenced on November 10.

Mr Bromley, 56, who has run the furniture business for 26 years, said yesterday: “Lee nearly ruined me, and I was completely oblivious until the police came to see me to say that he had handed himself in.

“I trusted him implicitly as my right-hand man for six years. He was an ex-magistrate and came to me with glowing references. I have since been told by police that he spent the money on prostitutes and I can’t believe he jeopardised my business for that.”

His business had survived only because his family had bailed him out, Mr Bromley said. “My business nearly folded because of this pervert. I was very lucky that my family were able to bail me out to keep it afloat.”

Detective Constable Rick Armstrong, of Greater Manchester Police, said: “Mr Bromley almost lost his business as a result of Lee’s prolonged thefts. Lee only came to us after he realised the game was up.”

Tracy Goodwin, 37, a secretary at the furniture shop, said yesterday: “Lee made my flesh crawl. He could be crass and suggestive at work. He would make comments about my boobs, and it got to the point where I had to dress frumpy.”

Lee, who is unmarried, claims to have sat on the bench at Inner London Magistrates’ Court from 1988 to 1997, and to have been chairman of Tower Hamlets youth court. In the CV he supplied to the furniture store he listed his interests as “skiing, watching football and cricket, travelling, and being non-racist and non-sexist”.

Lee, who lives next door to his elderly mother, was not available for comment. But a neighbour, who did not wish to be named, said: “If that guy spent £250,000 on a hooker to clean the house, he should ask for his money back.

“She obviously didn’t have her mind on the cleaning aspect of her work. His place was absolutely filthy.”

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