A POLICEMAN who is facing the sack for selling counterfeit DVDs last night protested his innocence.

PC John Wragg was fined £1,000 with £5,000 costs and given a 12-month conditional discharge after he admitted selling pirated versions of films such as Lord of the Rings over the Internet and in newspaper advertisements.

The former soldier, who has spent less than two years with Cleveland Police, said he had just been unlucky.

He now faces a disciplinary hearing later today that could end his career in the force.

Teesside Crown Court heard how a trading standards officer posing as a customer bought one DVD for £13 and obtained a list of other films for sale from Wragg.

His home in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, was raided and 200 counterfeit DVDs were recovered.

Last night, Wragg, 34, who is suspended, said he bought the DVDs in good faith from a website in Malaysia, believing them to be genuine.

He said he been advised to plead guilty to a single charge of selling a bootleg DVD and two specimen charges of possessing counterfeit films because they were strict liability offences.

He said: "People have blown this out of all proportion. I have not made any money. I have been naive and careless, that's all."

His wife, Nicola, 31, is pursuing a civil claim over her involvement in the case, alleging false imprisonment against the police and that she was the victim of a malicious prosecution by trading standards.

She was also arrested and charged, but the prosecution said matters against her would be left on file in light of her husband's pleas.