Suspended prison sentence for counterfeit goods trader
A Pilsley man who was selling counterfeit trainers and perfume from his home has received a suspended prison sentence and been ordered to do 200 hours unpaid work following a successful prosecution by Derbyshire County Councils trading standards team.
Trading standards officers and Derbyshire police searched the home of Tristan Bowers, 25, of Pilsley, Chesterfield in February 2019, following reports that he was selling counterfeit goods via eBay.
During the search a total of 214 pairs of Nike trainers, 127 bottles of Christian Dior Sauvage perfume, 415 bottles of Coco Mademoiselle and 52 bottles of Bleu de Chanel were seized, along with £1,300 in cash. All the goods were later confirmed to be counterfeit by brand representatives, and if sold legitimately would have been worth more than £90,000.
Bowers appeared at Derby Crown Court on Monday (1 March 2021) having pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to four charges:
- one offence of possession for sale of 214 pairs of counterfeit Nike trainers, contrary to the Trade Marks Act 1994
- one offence of possession for sale of 127 bottles of counterfeit Christian Dior perfume, contrary to the Trade Marks Act 1994
- one offence of possession for sale of 415 bottles of counterfeit Coco perfume contrary to the Trade Marks Act 1994
- one offence of possession for sale of 52 bottles of Chanel perfume contrary to the Trade Marks Act 1994
His Honour Judge Hurst sentenced Bowers to six months in prison for each of the offences, to run concurrently and suspended for two years, and as well as the 200 hours of unpaid work, ordered Bowers to do 10 days of rehabilitation activity.
Judge Hurst also agreed a timetable for a confiscation hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act where the issue of costs will also be dealt with. This will be held later in the spring.
Judge Hurst told Bowers:
“The £1,300 in cash that was seized showed how successful you were….this was the beginnings of a successful criminal commercial enterprise….if you appear again for any matters to do with dishonesty, for this was dishonesty in the same way as theft, you will inevitably go to prison.”
Cabinet Member for Health and Communities Councillor Carol Hart said:
“We want to make it very clear to people that we will not tolerate illegal trading of any kind in our county and our trading standards officers will continue to work hard with the police to crack down on this and protect the public from unregulated products.
“It is not fair when people part with hard earned cash and end up with substandard, fake goods, and just as importantly we’re also standing up for legitimate local traders whose businesses are being affected by this illegal trading.
“We encourage people who suspect this is happening to let us know about it and we can act.”
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