Couple ‘made £150k by selling fake football and bandT-shirts’

AHUSBAND and wife made more than £150,000 by selling fake football shirts and band T-shirts online, a court heard.

Andrew and Jayne Jones, who have been married for nearly 30 years, both admitted 16 trademark offences and were sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court.

Judge William Gaskell noted the “significant sums” involved in the case.

The court heard the couple ran two eBay account called Mr T-Shirts and Calamity Jane. Lee Reynolds, prosecuting, said: “They were dealing in the sale of counterfeit items.”

Newport City Council started making inquiries into Calamity Jane in December 2014 and there was a yearlong investigation.

Prosecutors said the pair printed items to order, with Mr T-Shirts specialising in football T-shirts and hoodies.

The court heard investigators made test purchases including Stoke City and West Ham shirts, which were found to be counterfeit.

Police searched the couple’s home on Tone Road in Bettws, Newport, in May 2015 and found fake T-shirts throughout the house, which seemed to be used as an office for the business.

The investigation revealed fake West Ham, Stoke City, Aston Villa and Manchester United shirts. Prosecutors said the couple also made counterfeit T-shirts for One Direction, JLS, Ed Sheeran, Westlife and Bon Jovi, as well as Superman and Barbie.

The defendants were interviewed in December 2015 and made no comment.

Prosecutors said the business traded for three-and-a-half years and had a turnover of about £300,000.

Mr Reynolds submitted the pair made more than £150,000 by selling counterfeit items – a figure that was not accepted by the defence.

The prosecutor said the figures were obtained by analysing the business’ PayPal and eBay records.

Andrew Jones, 56, and Jayne Jones, 47, accepted joint responsibility for each business.

They jointly admitted eight counts relating to the sale of counterfeit items, six counts relating to their possession and two counts of possessing articles used to make the counterfeit items.

Prosecutors said Andrew Jones had a relevant previous conviction from 2013, when he was fined in the magistrates’ court for selling counterfeit items using the same Mr T-Shirts account.

In mitigation, his barrister stressed his early guilty plea and the fact the Probation Service judged him to present a low risk of re-offending.

But the judge told him: “You knew what you were doing. You had your warning, yet you carried on.”

Judge Gaskell also noted his other previous convictions for dishonesty and jailed Andrew Jones for six months.