Sheeran team happy to see touts convicted

ED Sheeran’s team have welcomed the convictions of a family of “ticket touts” who “exploited the love and passion” of music fans.

Lynda Chenery and Mark Woods were found guilty yesterday of fraudulent activity over their involvement in “dishonest” Norfolkbased touting firm TQ Tickets Ltd, which sold tickets worth more than £6.5m on secondary ticketing sites in two-and-a-half years.

Maria Chenery-Woods – who is Woods’s wife and Chenery’s sister – and Chenery’s ex-husband Paul Douglas pleaded guilty to the offences at an earlier hearing.

Leeds Crown Court was told that TQ Tickets used multiple identities, some of them fake, to buy large numbers of tickets for high profile music events such as Ed Sheeran, Lady Gaga and Little Mix concerts on legitimate sites, including Ticketmaster.

The firm would then resell the tickets – often at vastly inflated prices – on secondary ticketing platforms such as Viagogo.

During the trial the jury heard statements from Mr Sheeran’s manager Stuart Camp and promoter Stuart Galbraith, who described the “extensive measures” they went to as they tried to prevent the reselling of tickets at inflated prices for the singer’s 2018 UK stadium tour.

Following the verdicts, Mr Galbraith said: “Today’s verdict is good news for live music fans, who are too often ripped off and exploited by greedy ticket touts.”

Mr Camp said: “Ed Sheeran’s 2018 summer stadium tour was when we really took a stand against online ticket touts. The low point for me had been one of his earlier Teenage Cancer Trust concerts, where tickets were listed on Viagogo for thousands of pounds, but with none of the money going to charity.”

Jurors in the TQ Tickets trial heard that CheneryWoods, who referred to herself as the Ticket Queen, was the driving force behind the company.

Jonathan Sandiford KC, prosecuting, opened the case saying: “What this case is about is greed and dishonesty. The two defendants were ticket touts.”

Chenery, 51, and Woods, 59, both of Dickleburgh, near Diss, Norfolk, were found guilty of three counts of fraudulent trading.

Chenery-Woods, 54, also of Dickleburgh, and Douglas, 56, of Pulham Market, Norfolk, admitted the same offences.

All four defendants will now be sentenced at a later date.