Pair sentenced for misleading consumers

Two English businessmen have been sentenced for selling bacon products mislabelled as free-range and local even though it was sourced from as far afield as Poland.

William Smith, 41, of Park Farm Cottage, in Kneesall, near Lincoln, and his father Andrew Smith, 65, of Old Hall Farm, Newark, received a combined suspended prison sentence of three years and seven months for misleading consumers over the source of European produced bacon.

The Smiths, who run Barn Bacon Limited, claimed some of their bacon products were locally produced and free-range; and even, on one occasion, reared on their own farm.

William pled guilty to five offences of fraud, between April 2012 and February 2015. He received a 19-month sentence, suspended for two years, must carry out 180 hours of unpaid work and will incur £15,000 costs.

Andrew pleaded guilty to one offence of fraud, on June 1 2013, and received a two-year sentence, suspended for two years, 200 hours of unpaid work and costs of £5,000.

Nottingham County Council’s trading standards team were first made aware of the false claims in 2014 after discovering that, since 2011, one of the company’s suppliers had sourced its bacon from the European Union – including from Germany, Poland and Denmark. It was reported the supplier was unaware that its products were being repackaged and sold as British.