Haul of fake DVDs and CDs found

4:21pm Monday 28th January 2008

A PROBE by Lancashire County Council consumer watchdogs revealed a haul of fake CDs and DVDs at the home of a Burnley man.

Police and trading standards officials, believed to be acting on a tip-off, raided the home of Philip Robinson in Christleton Close, Briercliffe, and found dozens of counterfeit home entertainment goods.

Robinson, 51, was also found to have computer equipment which enabled him to reproduce the Playstation trademark onto game discs.

Wheelchair-bound Robinson yesterday pleaded guilty to 15 charges of unauthorised use of trademarks, involving a host of well-known titles.

When investigators raided his home in December 2005 they discovered: * eight Top Gear - the Ultimate Driving Experience CDs and six music CDs entitled Platinum Legends .

* 14 music CDs - Going Underground - Teenage Kicks 2 and six Elvis - Greatest Love Songs CDs .

* four DVDS of the film Stealth and nine DVDS of the Disney production Valiant .

* two DVDs for the animated hit Robots and 14 DVDs entitled Porridge - The Christmas Specials .

* five DVDs of the first series of the Ricky Gervais comedy Extras and three Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire DVDs .

* three DVDs of the Hollywood blockbuster film Kong amd four XBOX console DVDs entitled Narnia .

* three further XBOX console DVDs of Ty The Tasmanian Tiger and three DVDs entitled F1 05 for the Playstation II console .

All of the titles were fake and Robinson has admitted that he had the CDs and DVDs with a view to selling them on to others.

Burnley Crown Court heard that Robinson's alleged victims included film and TV distributors and music companies 20th Century Fox, Columbia, the BBC, Microsoft, Sony, EMI and Disney.

The court was told that the case had taken so long to reach court, in part, because Robinson, had been hospitalised on a number of occasions and could not be interviewed about the items recovered from his home for some considerable time.

Judge Beverley Lunt remanded Robinson, who has no previous criminal convictions, on bail for both medical and pre-sentence reports until February 25.

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