TS News
Recent Prosecutions
Prosecutions in the last 6 months
26 April at Exeter Crown Court, Mr Daniel Doran of Princess Park, Farringdon nr Exeter, who had pleaded guilty to 7 offences under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations, was sentenced to serve a community service order of 180 hours of unpaid work, ordered to repay 3 victims a total of approximately £9000 in compensation and pay full prosecution costs of approximately £2000.
The offences related to the provision of paperwork containing a false address, failure to state on business documents details of business ownership, failing to give a cancellation notice and using an aggressive practice to elicit payment of £3000 immediately in cash.
Press release at: Devon drive-layer sentenced for unfair and aggressive practices
20 April at Plymouth Crown Court, Jayne Thompson, a director of Eaglerock Associates Ltd, of West Avenue, Exeter was found guilty of two offences under the Fraud Act 2006. Her co-director, William White, (also known as Bill White) also of West Avenue, pleaded guilty to identical offences and admitted another offence under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations on 24 October 2011. A pre sentencing hearing is set to take place on 11 May.
In a three day hearing, the court heard that despite the company taking advance payments of £45250 for building work to be undertaken, the work quickly fell behind schedule and then stopped. A lot of the work that was completed was substandard and all attempts to get the company to complete the contract failed. When the victims went to court to try and recover their money they found that White and Thompson had put the company into liquidation and were left with a property that was uninhabitable. Further victims were discovered in Cornwall, who told an almost identical story as the Devon victims.
Press release at: Banned directors admit responsibility for cowboy builder fiasco
26 March at Plymouth Magistrates, Christopher Wakeham of Elfordleigh Barns, Plympton, Plymouth pleaded guilty to two offences under the Trade Marks Act 1994. He was fined £400 and ordered to pay £100 towards costs and a victim surcharge of £15; additionally he was fined £1500 by HMRC for failing to pay duty on alcohol which was also seized .
Mr Wakeham was the subject of an entry warrant which was carried out in a joint operation by Plymouth Trading Standards, Devon Trading Standards, HMRC, Scambusters and the Police. He was found to be in possession of a quantity of counterfeit clothing; and wine which had been brought into the UK without any duty being paid.
13 February at Exeter Magistrates, Timothy Smale of Uphill Way, Weston Super Mare pleaded guilty to five offences under the Trade Marks Act 1994, and was sentenced to 9 weeks imprisonment suspended for one year. He was also ordered to carry out 100 hours unpaid community work, to make a £100 contribution to costs and had his stock of 295 items of counterfeit clothing forfeited.
In the summer of 2011 Mr Smale travelled to Devon to sell branded clothing, which was counterfeit, at car boot sales and markets such as Lympstone and Dawlish Warren where these offences occurred.
13 December at Exeter Crown Court, Stephen Sicklemore (Trading as The Denture Clinic) of Old Gatehouse Road, Dawlish was sentenced to 3 charges under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008;to nine months suspended for two years, is subject to a twelve month supervision order, and is required to complete 180 hours unpaid work..
Mr Sickelmore ran an illegal denture fitting and supply business from his home, visiting people in their home to take teeth moulds which he was not legally qualified to do. Devon County Councils Trading Standards Service carried out a long and detailed investigation into his activities, working closely with the General Dental Council and The Medical & Healthcare Regulatory Agency.
Press release at: Dawlish man receives suspended sentence for illegal dentistry practices
23 November at Exeter Crown Court, Natalie McCarthy of Colston, Axminster pleaded guilty to 8 offences under the Trade Marks Act 1994; she was ordered to pay £4824.14, sentenced to 40 hours unpaid work and had to forfeit over 10,000 counterfeit products.
Mrs McCarthy had been the main force behind a successful eBay business called Honeytoast UK, importing cheap gift items from the Philippines for children's parties. The items bore any number of well known children's characters such as Superman, Super Mario and Disney characters. Nearly all of the items seized at her address, when a entry warrant was executed, were counterfeit and have now been forfeited.
7 October at Exeter Magistrates Court, Dean Westlake, of Lower Wear Road, Countess Wear, Exeter, was sentenced to a charge under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 and was given a conditional discharge of 6 months.
Mr Westlake was prosecuted as a result of falsely using the logo of ‘the Guild of Master Craftsmen’ on his paperwork. In 2009 he agreed to lay a patio for a consumer, using a written quote which had the Guild's logo on it, but he never completed the work.
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Court Orders and Undertakings under the Enterprise Act 2002
Under the Enterprise Act for some specific legislation Trading Standards may seek "Undertakings" from businesses that they will abide by the law and not carry out certain practices. An Undertaking is not an admission that these practices have been carried out in the past, but is a promise to future action. Breach of the Undertaking may lead to a court Enforcement Order. Breach of such an Order may be a contempt of court.
Further information about the Act can be found on the Office of Fair Trading website.
ANY COURT ORDES OR UNDERTAKINGS IN THE LAST 3 YEARS WILL BE LISTED HERE
