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Trainee accountant spared jail for counterfeit goods sale

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29th Dec 2014
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​A trainee accountant who used the fake name 'Rodney Trotter' to sell counterfeit goods online received an eight month jail sentence, suspended for 12 months at Merthyr Crown Court. 

The accountant, 25, admitted 19 offences under the Trademarks Act, and had sold fake goods through a Facebook page, entitled Rodney Trotter. Trading standards officers spotted the page as part of "ongoing internet monitoring", Wales Online reported. 

An undercover operation by the officers in which they ordered counterfeit goods worth £150 - a Rolex watch and DVDs - and they arranged to meet the accountant. 

After a second 'sting' was carried out by officers, the accoutant's home was raided at the beginning of December. Counterfeit goods were discovered and he claimed to not know that selling the goods was illegal.

Andrew Davies, defending the accountant, told the court that "no buyer would have been deceived into thinking a £60,000 Rolex watch was being sold for £20."

He said the accountant was an intelligent and talented young man, who had a daughter with his partner and is father to her older child, had also taken on the parenting of his partner’s family following a death.

Judge Richard Twomlow said that since all transactions happened away from his address, it suggests he knew what was doing was improper.

But he added: “All your customers knew very well they were buying counterfeit goods so nobody was being deceived. Having strayed from the proper path you seem to be back on it."

The accountant faces a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing next year and will pay a £100 victim surcharge.

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