A Bunbury doctor has confirmed his past life as a brothel owner in New Zealand. Dr Neil Benson is now based at Bunbury’s Brecken Health Care but in 2006 he had a doctor’s surgery in the small North Island town at Coopers Beach which he turned into a brothel and ran a prostitution service for six months. He said the business was just something he “fell into” following unusual circumstances in which he was not happy with the man who intended to lease his building and turn it into a bordello. “I decided then that rather than let them do something that was not very high quality, and since I was looking for something to do anyway, that I would have more of an involvement,” he said. “But really I was just going to be the silent partner behind it.” Dr Benson, who described himself as an “accidental brothel keeper” said his his past was not something he ever tried to hide and had nothing to do with his career as a respected doctor. “Many of my patients here know about it, you know, I have personally never been to a brothel other than the one I owned — it’s not part of my make up,” he said.
