James Delahunty
5 Apr 2005 8:15
A Scottish man has been jailed for 20 months after a court heard how he turned his family home into a major counterfeiting operation. Ian McNaughton, 44, was copying and selling copyrighted material to pay off some high gambling debts. Copying equipment was apparently found in every single room in McNaughton's house. His 20 month sentence is the longest sentence ever handed down by a Scottish court for counterfeiting.
"These are serious offences at the highest end of the scale. You turned your family home into a factory to produce fake CDs and DVDs for the Christmas market. It was an operation of a significant scale. You had major debts but it was your decision and your responsibility as to what happened within your own home. Even although you owed people a lot of money and were under extreme pressure to repay them, this is a classic case where they cynically use someone to carry out a large scale operation like this with a family home as cover." said Sheriff Alfred Vannet.
McNaughton refused to reveal who he was running the operation for. He pleaded guilty to charges of counterfeiting and breaching the trade marks act during his actions at his home in December 2002 and also admitted breaching copyright laws. "The council welcomes the sentence because of the scale of the crime and the impact it has on the legitimate businesses." Councillor Helen McKenna, convener of North Lanarkshire Council's Protective Services Sub-Committee, said.
Source:
EveninG Times