Prosecutions - 2008
Offences are listed in date order within the categories listed below.
Animal Health & Welfare
Date of Conviction: March 2008
Court: Maidstone Crown Court
A transporter of horses was convicted of using forged health certificates for horses being brought into the country through Dover. He was fined a total of £4,000 and ordered to pay £685 costs.
Date of Conviction: March 2008
Court: Folkestone Magistrates Court
A dealer who was not licensed or authorised to act as a transporter of animals and who transported a horse in a vehicle which was not licensed or approved was given a 2 year conditional discharge and ordered to pay £100 in costs.
Date of Conviction: January 2008
Court: Sevenoaks Magistrates Court
A stockholder kept cattle in buildings where they did not have access to a well maintained, well drained lying area with dry bedding and pigs that did not have permanent access to sufficient fresh drinking water was sentenced to 12 months community punishment (300 hours unpaid work). He was also ordered to pay £2,460 costs.
Counterfeit Goods
Date of Conviction: May 2008
Court: Dartford Magistrates Court
A trader in counterfeit DVD's was fined a total of £2,100 and and ordered to pay £294 costs.
Date of Conviction: April 2008
Court: Folkestone Magistrates Court
A trader in counterfeit DVD's who also possessed a computer specifically for making copies & labelling equipment was sentenced to 100 hours community punishment and ordered to pay £1,000 costs.
Date of Conviction: March 2008
Court: Folkestone Magistrates Court
A trader in counterfeit clothing was sentenced to 150 hours community punishment and also ordered to pay £450 costs.
Date of Conviction: March 2008
Court: Folkestone Magistrates Court
A trader in counterfeit DVD's who also possessed a computer specifically for making copies was sentenced to 250 hours community punishment.
Date of Conviction: January 2008
Court: Sevenoaks Magistrates Court
A trader in counterfeit DVD's and computer programs who possessed a computer specifically for making copies was sentenced to 120 hours community punishment for each of 20 offences (to run concurrently). He was also ordered to pay £410 costs.
Date of Conviction: January 2008
Court: Maidstone Crown Court
A bootfair trader was sentenced to 20 months custodial sentence for 1 offence of conspiring with others to commit trade mark offences and a further 6 months (to run concurrently) for 8 other offences of supplying counterfeit DVD's.
Date of Conviction: January 2008
Court: Maidstone Crown Court
A bootfair trader was sentenced to 10 months custodial sentence (suspended for 2 years) for 1 offence of conspiring with others to commit trade mark offences. He was ordered to complete 200 hours community punishment and to complete an education training program. He was also ordered to return to court in 9 months for the sentence to be reviewed. A further 3 month custodial sentence (suspended for 2 years) was imposed for 8 other offences of supplying counterfeit DVD's.
False trade descriptions
Date of Conviction: June 2008
Court: Folkestone Magistrates Court
A motor trader was fined a total of £2,000 and ordered to pay £1,015 costs for selling "clocked" cars.
Date of Conviction: February 2008
Court: Medway Magistrates Court
Appeal: Maidstone Crown Court - April 2008
A horse dealer was convicted at the Magistrates Court of seven offences of applying false ages to horses and then supplying these horses and of one offence of selling a horse without a horse passport. He was fined a total of £16,000 and also ordered to pay Prosecution costs of £6,950. The Court ruled that the total sum of £22,950.00 must be paid at a minimum rate of £1,000.00 per month.
The defendant appealed against sentence. The judge ruled that in relation to one of the horses, the four offences involved one transaction and he would uphold the £3,000 fine for the first offence but no separate penalty would be imposed for the other two charges for which a fine of £2,000 each had been imposed in the Magistrates' Court.
The appellant therefore still had to pay a total (inclusive of costs) of £18,950.00 at £1,000.00 per month.
Food
Date of Conviction: April 2008
Court: Folkestone Magistrates Court
A retailer who had food (including cooked ham, sausage and bacon baps, rice pudding and soft drinks) for sale past the "use by" dates was fined a total of £1,000 and ordered to pay costs of £235.
Underage sales
Date of Conviction: June 2008
Court: Folkestone Magistrates Court
The seller of four bottles of Babycham to a person under the age of 18 was fined a total of £300 and ordered to pay £378 costs
Date of Conviction: June 2008
Court: Canterbury Magistrates Court
A licensee who sold a bottle of Red Square Vodka to a person under the age of 18 was fined a total of £500 and had his licence suspended for 6 months. He was also ordered to pay £215 costs
Date of Conviction: June 2008
Court: Sittingbourne Magistrates Court
A licensee who sold a bottle of WKD Blue to a person under the age of 18 was fined a total of £500 and had his licence suspended for 30 days. He was also ordered to pay £186 costs.
Date of Conviction: May 2008
Court: Ashford Magistrates Court
The seller of four cans of Fosters lager to a person under the age of 18 was fined a total of £500 and ordered to pay £168 costs.
Date of Conviction: April 2008
Court: Maidstone Magistrates Court
A licensee who sold four cans of Fosters lager to a person under the age of 18 was fined a total of £500 and had his licence suspended for 6 months. He was also ordered to pay £174 costs.
page updated:
10/7/08