A CEREDIGION man made and sold pirated DVDs of shows including Clarkson’s Farm, Bridgerton, and Emily in Paris.

David Thomas, 48, of Sarnau, appeared at Swansea Crown Court after admitting two trademark offences between May 2012 and April last year.

The case came to light following a consumer complaint in January 2022 relating to a website. An investigation was launched by Northumberland County Council, and found the website was being run by a person in Ceredigion.

A second website was also uncovered, which looked identical to the initial site which sparked the complaint, the court heard.

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Following “a complex investigation” by Ceredigion County Council’s Trading Standards team, Thomas was identified as operating seven websites.

The websites offered counterfeit DVDs bearing trademarked content from Netflix, Amazon, Disney, Sony, and Universal Studios, as well as wrestling. They also sold titles which hadn’t been publicly released.

A search warrant was issued in April last year, and officers found “professional electronic equipment” set up at his home to produce the DVDs to make them look like they were legitimate products.

The court heard that Thomas had been pirating TV series including Clarkson’s Farm, Bridgerton, Jack Ryan, and Emily in Paris.

The prosecution said the retail prices of the titles Thomas had pirated totalled £150,000 – although it was added that this was not the amount that the defendant had made from selling the DVDs.

However, it was alleged that Thomas made “a substantial financial gain”.

Nigel Fryer, in mitigation, said that Thomas - who admitted both charges - was previously of clean character.

“He apologises unreservedly for appearing before the court for the first time,” he said.

“It’s an unusual situation that you are not dealing with an individual who has decided to get up and enrich themselves.

“[The probation service] expect Mr David Thomas will work with them.

“He’s a man who is going to engage and is likely to benefit from that interaction with the probation service.”

Mr Fryer said the majority of the offending had taken place “in the last few years”, when Thomas had been affected by mental health issues which had contributed to him being deemed unfit to work.

He added that Thomas was “thought of highly in the community” and conducted “extensive charity work”.

Judge Catherine Richards sentenced Thomas to 20 months imprisonment, suspended for 18 months. As part of that, he must complete 15 rehabilitation activity requirement days and was made subject to a curfew between 9pm and 6am for four months.

The court heard that a Proceeds of Crime Act application had been made to recover any profits Thomas had made from his offending.