A man has been jailed for fifteen months after pleading guilty to illegally copying and selling music, films, videogames and pornography. Gary Boulter confessed to 23 offenses and asked for a further 144 to be taken into consideration. As well as the jail sentence, he was order to pay £12,000 costs and was told he would have £10,500 confiscated under the Proceeds Of Crime Act (2002). If he failed to pay this within six months, he will have to serve a further nine months in prison.
Boulter claimed that copying was just a hobby when police discovered over 2,300 copied CDs, DVDs and videogames, 500 blank CDs and 173 copied inlays in his home with a market value of over £50,000.
Senior Enforcement Officer for South Gloucestershire Trading Standards, Neil Derrick said: "Mr Boulter has been dealt with severely by the court today and this should stand as a stern warning to others who are tempted to engage in this type of activity. He has not only lost his liberty, but now also has to pay significant sums of money in costs and under the confiscation order, as well as having all of his discs and associated equipment forfeited. He obviously had no regard for the local retailers whose businesses are badly affected by counterfeiting and he was supplying pornographic films, which are age restricted and the content of which means they should only be sold by a licensed sex shop".