Business information

Further stallholder sentenced for selling fake goods at market

A stallholder received a one year suspended prison sentence for selling counterfeit films and games at Bovingdon Market after a prosecution brought by Hertfordshire Trading Standards.

Chris Constantine, 50 of Bardolph Road, Islington, London, was also sentenced to 280 hours of unpaid community work and made the subject of a supervision order under the probation service by Judge Alan Warner at St Albans Crown Court on January 17.

Judge Warner warned that the offence crossed the custody threshold, but suspended the sentence in consideration of Constantine’s diagnosed mental health condition.

Constantine was found guilty of distributing films and software that infringed the rights of the copyright holders between May and November 2005 at Bovingdon Market.

“This has been part of a long and complex case associated with prolonged illegal activities at Bovingdon Market and we hope that this sentence will further emphasise the seriousness of the offences and the scale of the activities in question,” said County Councillor Richard Smith, Executive Member for Community Safety.

“The sale of counterfeit goods is known to be linked to more serious and organised crime and, as we have said on many previous occasions, we are simply not going to tolerate it in Hertfordshire.

“Once again, we would like to urge consumers to help combat this illegal trade by only buying from reputable outlets and querying branded products which seem unrealistically cheap. Similarly, we would remind traders that they are obliged to verify the authenticity of any goods before they purchase them to sell on.”

Hertfordshire Trading Standards made 12 test purchases of fakes from the stall that Constantine operated with Louise Taylor, who was sentenced in December 2007.

When Constantine’s stall was raided, Trading Standards officers found 780 fake DVDs. A further 286 were found at Taylor’s father’s house, 310 at her mother’s and 297 films and 85 games at their own address. Computers used to make fake packaging were also seized.

The case against Constantine was part of a bigger operation mounted by Hertfordshire Trading Standards in November 2005. Five defendants pleaded guilty and five pleaded not guilty, including Constantine, but all were convicted on July 24 this year.

Sentences previously imposed in the case were:

Louise Taylor, 32, also of Bardolph Road Islington - sentenced to a six month suspended prison sentence and 40 hours of unpaid community work

Alan Birmingham, 48 of Castle Road, Bedford - sentenced to 10 months imprisonment;

Ricci Jones, 39, of Dylan Court, Houghton Regis, Beds - sentenced to 80 hours unpaid work and ordered to pay £750 towards prosecution costs;

Gareth Richards, 27, of Lower End Road, Milton Keynes, Bucks - fined £750 and ordered to pay £1,500 towards prosecution costs;

John Granger, 57, of Holt Road, Romford, Essex - fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £2,500 towards prosecution costs.

All stallholders had their illicit goods forfeited, which included large numbers of clothing, films, software and CDs as well as money, computers, duplicating equipment and printers.