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Father caught selling fake DVDs and CDs by One Direction and Justin Bieber on Facebook

A father-of-one was caught selling counterfeit DVDs and CDs via Facebook including albums by One Direction and Justin Bieber.

Published

Carl Wilding, of Wednesfield, copied new releases and then used Facebook to advertise them for £1.

But Trading Standards rumbled him carrying out test purchases and warrant was issued to search the 33-year-old's home, where a laptop with illegal download software and a CD/DVD burner were found.

Prosecutor David Abel, on behalf of City of Wolverhampton Council, told Wolverhampton Magistrates Court: "His online page was called DVD Releases Midlands.

"He would copy newly released items and sell them. People paid him via a Paypal account, and collected them from his home.

"He came to the attention of the council's Trading Standards team, so test purchases were carried out. Various DVDs were stocked that contravened copyright laws.

"A warrant was sought and granted. Officers went to his house and various DVDs and CDs were found as well as equipment for producing copies."

The court heard Wilding, who has a teacher wife and a six-year-old child, had been running the racket for around a year.

Wilding, of Willow Avenue, pleaded guilty to two charges of possession of goods with a false trademark for sale, two of selling an item that infringed copyright, one of making an item that infringed copyright and one of possession of an article which infringed copyright.

David Dorrance, defending Wilding, told magistrates: "He is a man of previous good character. He says that he was doing this for about 12 months.

"It coincided with him losing his job. He has a wife and a child aged six. His wife works as a teacher, but they found themselves struggling financially when he lost his own employment."

He added: "They fell on hard times, and this is not something he has been involved in before.

"It wasn't part of a larger operation, it was a small-scale one he carried out by himself.

"He says that he sold up to 300 copies at £1 each. He was somewhat naive in his understanding of the law, although that's not to say he didn't know what he was doing was illegal."

Magistrates handed him a community order for 12 months and ordered him to carry out 40 hours of unpaid work.

He was also ordered to pay £350 in court costs and an £85 victim surcharge.

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