eBay fraudster jailed

An eBay fraudster who used false identities to sell fake Manchester United goods through the online auction site has been jailed and ordered to return £70,000 to his victims.

Simon Edward Hurley from Coulsdon in Surrey was sentenced at Croydon Crown Court on Friday to nine months' imprisonment and ordered to pay back £70,000, plus £8,000 costs, within six months.

If Hurley fails to pay the money back, he faces a default sentence of a further two years in prison.

The counterfeit goods were first discovered following a raid on Hurley's key-cutting and engraving premises by Trading Standards officers and the Metropolitan Police. In April, Hurley pleaded guilty to a total of 16 offences including the sale of money clips, cigarette lighters and tankers engraved with the Manchester United crest through eBay.

A subsequent investigation of Hurley's financial affairs by the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) found he sold more than 6,600 items for £104,500 between 18 March 2003 and 25 December 2003 — and that significant deposits into a number of bank accounts were not consistent with his modest legitimate income.

The ARA said Hurley has sufficient assets, including equity in his home, investments, a Porsche Boxster, a Ducati motorbike and a custom built Spondon Hayabusa motorbike, to pay the confiscation order.

Councillor Paul Smith, Croydon Council cabinet member for public protection and crime reduction, said in a statement: "This is a magnificent effort from Croydon Trading Standards officers, whose painstaking investigation has put an end to a criminal enterprise that was duping hundreds of innocent Internet buyers who believed they were buying the real thing."