Catch me if you can ...oh you just have Dopey online taunt of £6m DVD pir ate king
Frankie: Fame made me unstable
A DVD bootlegger who taunted police about the film Catch Me If You Can has been jailed for two and a half years.
Andrew Thornton, who was behind a £ 6million pirating racket, could not resist teasing investigators after an arrest.
When he was released without charge, the dopey dealer posted a Facebook message hinting at the 2002 film starring Leo DiCaprio as a conman.
It said: “Spent a lovely afternoon and evening in Watford nick. Defo watching a Leonardo DiCaprio film tonight – hmmmm I wonder what the film is called lol.”
In another post, he said he would be sending Christmas cards to trading standards.
But father-of-four Thornton, 33, was caught when his car was stopped in May 2014 and more than 9,400 bootlegged DVDs and CDs were found. His prosecution was the culmination of a three- year effort by trading standards.
Despite raids on the two market stalls he ran in Bovingdon, Herts, Thornton carried on his pirating operation. He sold fakes and supplied them to other traders.
Nearly 27,000 DVDs and CDs were seized in a series of raids during the three-year i nvestigation by t rading standards chiefs. They included hit films Frozen, The Wolf of Wall Street, Maleficent and Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie, plus TV show House of Cards.
Fatpants
Thornton – who posed dressed as a Minion from kids’ film Despicable icable Me on Facebook and called himself Fatpants – set up a “factory” capable ble of producing 120 discscs an hour.
Some of thee films he copied had not t yet been released in the shops.
He packaged ed the discs so CHAMPION jockey Frankie Dettori has admitted fame turned him into an “arrogant, obnoxious little p****”.
And Frankie, 45, also revealed he regrets success coming so early and that he does not spend enough time with his five kids.
He said: “I don’t see any of their plays or sports days.
“I’m around more than my dad was for me, but when I do come home I am up and down, they looked genuine. Thornton made £ 1.1million from the scam, which cost the industry £6million in lost sales. At St Albans Crown Court last week, Thornton, of Corby, Northants, admitted manufacturing, distributing and selling counterfeit DVDs and CDs. Jailing him, Judge Marie Catterson said the Facebook messages indicatedindi the defendant’s “co “contemptuous attitude” to investigators and his “totalto lack of remorse at t that time”. Richard Thake, of Hertfordsh Hertfordshire trading s t andards,andar which broug brought the case aga against depending on whether I’m winning or losing. They think I’m a raving lunatic.”
Frankie, named the world’s best jockey in 2015, admits he was “addicted” to being the centre of attention – and loved to party.
The Celebrity Big Brother star said: “When I was younger, I wanted to be part of the A-list circles. I was young, suddenly rich and spiralling out of control.
“I was an arrogant, obnoxious little p****.”
The Italian, who moved to Thornton, said: “This successful prosecution shows our commitment to fighting against intellectual property crime. The sentence reflects the serious nature of the criminality involved.” Tim Cooper, of music’s trade association British Phonographic Industry, said: “The large scale of Thornton’s counterfeit operation made difficult trading conditions faced by so many entertainment high street outlets even harder.
Suffer
“When stores close, not only do customers face greatly reduced choice, but the local economy and jobs suffer too, and, of course, the artists and companies that invest in creating great music and film go unrewarded also.
“It’s v i t al we don’t underestimate the serious nature of this crime and the impact it has on people, nor the need to remain ever vigilant and determined to tackle it with all the resources available to us.” England when he was 14 to train as an apprentice jockey, says he doesn’t want his 11-year-old son to follow in his footsteps.
He said: “Horse-riding is so dangerous. I couldn’t bear to see him suffer.”
In a frank interview in The Times magazine yesterday, he confessed he is no longer a party animal and has to plan a night out, “before, during and after” to keep his body in shape.
He said he is constantly hungry – and finds just looking at a Sunday roast a daunting prospect. He said: “I’ve been on a diet for 30 years. I’ve tried diuretics, laxatives, sweating in a hot car.
“In my sport, it’s the horses that are doped. I’ve never taken steroids. Jockeys just try to be as light and skinny as possible. I’m always hungry.”
He also struggles with air travel after surviving a crash in 2000, which killed the pilot. The plane crashed on take off at Newmarket on i ts way to Goodwood, fracturing his ankle.