Daily Planet brothel accused of 'secret door'
Article from:
Keith Moor
January 17, 2009 12:00am
A RAID on the Daily Planet brothel revealed beds for up to 20 prostitutes were illegally set up in the building next door.
An adjoining wall was smashed through and a door installed to illegally link the two properties in Horne St, Elsternwick.
News of the discovery could affect Daily Planet building owner John Trimble's plans to open a bar next door to the brothel.
It is illegal for brothels to serve alcohol.
Mr Trimble - the nephew of a Calabrian mafia boss - bought the building next to his Daily Planet property 10 years ago and recently applied for a liquor licence for it.
The Herald Sun reveals today that Glen Eira council officers inspected the brothel in 2005 and discovered the illegal doorway.
That linking door between the brothel and Mr Trimble's planned bar at 13 Horne St was still there when the council last checked in December 2007.
Council inspectors also discovered beds for up to 20 sex workers were illegally provided on two of the three floors of 13 Horne St, with none of the mandatory safety requirements or planning approvals being met.
The council inspection followed a police raid on the brothel in which a prostitute was accused of stealing a $1.5 million watch from a client.
The diamond-studded Patek Phillippe watch was under a mattress in an illegal bed.
Elsternwick residents fear the proposed bar next to the Daily Planet is a bid to beat an alcohol ban in brothels.
Mr Trimble, 62, who changed his name from Trimbole, is the chief executive of Planet Platinum, which owns the $5 million Daily Planet site.
He is also the sole director of Cameron Lane Pty Ltd, which bought 13 Horne St as the site of the proposed bar for $485,000 in 1999.
Mr Trimble is the nephew of dead Italian organised crime czar Robert Trimbole, who was one of Australia's biggest marijuana and heroin dealers during the 1970s and '80s.
Trimbole is a major character in the new Underbelly TV series.
The executive director of Planet Platinum - the company Mr Trimble is using to apply for the Horne St liquor licence - is Dragan Micovski.
He manages Mr Trimble's strip joint, Showgirls Bar 20, in violence-prone King St.
Mr Trimble's company bought the King St building and strip club business for $7.4 million in 2003.
The Bar 20 business, and the building, are on the market for $10.5 million.
Mr Trimble's company also bought the lease on the Royal Melbourne Hotel in Bourke St, Melbourne, for $1.5 million in 2004 and still owns 50 per cent of the popular pub.
As executive chairman, CEO and secretary of Planet Platinum, Mr Trimble is paid $450,000 a year.
His company's 2008 annual report revealed Planet Platinum has invested $557,000 in a proposed joint venture for an eco-resort in Indonesia.
Banned brothel owner Graham Harvey has applied to turn 53 Nepean Highway, Elsternwick, which is less than a kilometre from Mr Trimble's proposed 140-patron bar, into a licensed table-top dancing club with sexually explicit entertainment from 10pm-7am daily.
Elsternwick residents are campaigning to stop both venues, fearing if they are approved it will set a precedent to turn what is a family-dominated area into a King St-style sex and alcohol strip.
Raided: the Daily Planet in Elsternwick.