Maidenhead & Windsor

A Holyport couple prosecuted by Royal Windsor and Maidenhead Borough trading standards officers for selling counterfeit goods on ebay have been ordered to pay back nearly £40,000 made during their criminal activities.

At Reading Crown Court on January 18 husband and wife Lucia Ferrazano and Steven Pygall were each ordered to pay £18,316.10 within nine months or face nine months' imprisonment, and still have to pay the money.

The confiscation order was made following the Windsor and Maidenhead borough's first Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) investigation which looked into how much money the couple had made and resulted in the net value of their 'benefits of crime' being assessed. Trading standards officers worked with the couple to draw up the confiscation order, setting out what they had to pay back and by when.

The couple – now living in Taplow – were originally prosecuted by Windsor and Maidenhead trading standards in 2006 and convicted of conspiracy to defraud and other Trade Marks Act offences relating to the sale of counterfeit golf clubs, clothing, jewellery and other items on the online auction site.

Following a tip-off from golf manufacturers Callaway, trading standards officers visited the couple's house in April 2006 and seized nearly 150 counterfeit items as well as associated computer equipment.

In court Ferrazano pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defrauding proprietors of registered trademarks and was sentenced to nine months imprisonment suspended for two years, plus 200 hours of community service.

Pygall pleaded guilty to two offences under the Trade Marks Act and was sentenced to two 40-hour periods of community work to run concurrently.

After the hearing trading standards initiated the POCA investigation.

Cllr Colin Rayner, lead member for Windsor and Maidenhead trading standards, said: "This is the first time the council has used the Proceeds of Crime Act to investigate criminal activity. This case clearly demonstrates how valuable the act can be and shows that the law really does work and that we can catch criminals.

"By using the act in this way we can send out a clear message to those engaged in criminal activity that crime doesn't pay and that on top of a criminal conviction they can expect to be stripped of their assets."

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead