An alleged pimp fled his family home after being exposed by a regional Sunday newspaper reporter, a court has heard.

Belfast Magistrates’ Court was told how Sunday Life journalist Patricia Devlin went undercover to meet Paul Ervine after answering an online advert for escorts.

Ervine, pictured left, was secretly recorded and filmed in a Belfast bar going into “candid” detail about the work involving sex in exchange for cash.

The court heard he fled across the sea to England and Wales after Sunday Life handed its evidence over to police in September last year.

He was arrested last month after returning to Northern Ireland, and faces charges of running a brothel as well as controlling and inciting prostitution for gain.

After their initial meeting, Ervine allegedly showed Patricia round a brothel, before she revealed her real identity and offered him the right to reply before the story was published.

Patricia, pictured below left, was awarded both the Daily/Sunday News Reporter of the Year and the Scoop of the Year titles at last month’s Regional Press Awards.

At Tuesday’s hearing the court was told by a detective that Ervine left his wife a ‘Dear John’ letter before he fled.

Ervine was granted bail by the court, despite the detective claiming he could not be trusted to remain in Northern Ireland.

The officer added: “He has shown he’s willing to flee at the drop of a hat, no matter where he’s living.”

Matt Higgins, defending, said that Ervine believed working as a commissioned escort agent was not illegal, and not the same as acting as a pimp and brothel keeper.

District Judge George Conner ordered Ervine was not to leave Northern Ireland without the prior approval of the police.