A SHREWSBURY market stall holder who admitted counterfeiting offences has been handed a three month prison sentence.

Christopher Lintott Jones, 41, of Market Lane, Wolverhampton, pleaded guilty to offences in relation to supplying, and possession for supply, of counterfeit t-shirts and DVDs, including pornographic material.

His stall at Shrewsbury Sunday Market was raided by trading standards officers from Shropshire Council last year following a consumer complaint that counterfeit DVDs were being sold.

Officers discovered more than 70 counterfeit t-shirts on open display, including garments branded with Henley, G-Star, Timberland and adidas trade marks.

Jones was also found to have a box of 180 DVDs under the stall which included five copies of Toy Story 3, Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang, two titles from the Twilight series and more than 70 pornographic titles.

All illegal goods were seized.

Cllr Steve Charmley, cabinet member with responsibility for trading standards at Shropshire Council, said: “This is an excellent result for trading standards and illustrates the valuable work the service performs in protecting the public and legitimate traders of Shropshire.”

Mike Davies, prosecuting for Shropshire Council, estimated Jones’ potential profit on the t-shirts to be more than £750 and the loss to the legitimate clothing industry to be between £1,500 and £2,300.

The DVDs represented a loss to the film industry of £1,380.

Frances Darling, trading standards manager at Shropshire Council, said: “This was Jones’ second offence of this nature within six years; this undoubtedly influenced the severity of the sentence, which sends a very strong message to the effect that economic crime is treated extremely seriously, and I hope that it will serve to deter others from following a similar path.”