Pirate box seller hit with fine
March 26, 2018
By Colin Mann
A long-running case involving the sale of illegal TV boxes online has seen the offender ordered to pay back almost £5,000 (€5,722).
Mark Hindley, of Lymm, Cheshire, in the northwest of England, was arrested in September 2015 on suspicion of selling illegal TV devices.
Hindley appeared in court in 20177 after he started selling the devices on eBay. He pleaded guilty to the charges in October 2017 where he was handed a four-month sentence which was suspended for 12 months. He was also ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work.
Subsequently, at the end of February 2018, Hindley was ordered to pay £3,864 as well as £1,000 in additional costs to FACT, following a confiscation hearing at Liverpool Crown Court under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
The judge also imposed a destruction order on more than 80 illegal boxes which were uncovered at his home in Lymm following a police search.
“This is another step forward in the right direction to tackling the issue of illegal streaming,” commented Kieron Sharp, CEO of FACT. “We will continue to work with industry and police forces across the UK to clampdown on the sale of illicit streaming devices as they pose a real threat to the creative industries, the UK economy and the livelihoods of the 1.9 million people working behind the scenes of our favourites films, TV and sport.”
“The public should be aware that selling devices that allow access to premium content you normally pay for is illegal. Similarly using one of these devices to stream premium TV, sports and films for which you should have an official subscription is also breaking the law.”