A JOINER who had a secret business selling pirated blue movies and video games has been ordered to pay a total of £800.
Magistrates in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, heard that when police and a trading standards officer raided David Williams' home, they seized thousands of discs, which were later examined by the British Board of Film Classification and copyright experts.
Their findings led Williams, a 39-year-old father-of-two, whose pregnant partner accompanied him to court, to plead guilty to ten charges.
He admitted selling one DVD that can only be bought in a licensed sex shop, and another for which no certificate had been granted.
He also admitted eight infringements of copyright laws and was fined a total of £400, plus £400 court costs.
Alex Lynn, prosecuting, said that of the thousands of titles catalogued by North Yorkshire trading standards staff, only a few were genuine.
Williams, of Fairfax Avenue, Harrogate, admitted he had manufactured and supplied counterfeit discs, but told police he could not remember how long he had been doing it.
In mitigation, Iftikhar Ahmed said Williams had learnt his lesson.
He said most of the discs were part of his and his partner's collections, built up over the years through legitimate purchases. The majority of the copies had been given away and others sold for a pound or two.
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