A HUSBAND and wife who sold hundreds of fake Sony and Apple products online were ‘motivated by greed’.
Neil Bundy, 51, and Lisa Bundy, 40, of Kingsley Drive, Northwich were both given community orders at Chester Crown Court and must pay £6,950 prosecution costs.
The couple were sentenced on June 24.
Neil Bundy pleaded guilty to seven counterfeit charges including selling 85 Sony PlayStation handheld controllers and 83 Apple AirPods.
The offences were committed between June 1, 2020, and February 4, 2021.
Lisa Bundy admitted two counterfeit offences, selling a pair of Apple AirPods on January 7, this year, and 83 Apple Apple AirPods on February 2.
Trading Standards officers from Cheshire West and Chester Council started an investigation into the couple’s businesses after they were made aware of a seller, ‘Neiltvguru’, advertising Apple marked earphones (AirPods) and Sony branded PlayStation 4 handheld controllers via eBay.
After several test purchases which showed the items to be counterfeit, under warrant, Trading Standards officers, together with Cheshire Police, seized 83 counterfeit Apple AirPods, along with other evidence and £5,695 cash.
The seized items were later analysed and also confirmed as counterfeit.
Neil Bundy received a community order for 180 hours and Lisa Bundy was given a community order for 80 hours.
Sentencing the couple, Judge Michael Leeming said: “It was greed not need that motivated you.”
Councillor Karen Shore, the council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for environment, highways and strategic transport, said: “Our Trading Standards officers will vigorously pursue those involved in the sale of counterfeit goods and continue to protect the public and legitimate traders by removing poor quality counterfeit products from the market place.”
A proceeds of crime hearing for this case has been set for September.
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