Fraudsters ordered to pay back £36,000

Three fraudsters who sold thousands of pounds of fake shoes and clothing over the internet from home have been ordered to pay back more than £36,000.

Conmen Jason Messenger, Kevin Gibbons and Simon Jones, all from Sandwell, used auction website ebay to sell counterfeit Nike trainers and Timberland boots.

Yesterday they were back at Wolverhampton Crown Court for a proceeds of crime hearing when Judge Michael Challinor formally confiscated the remaining funds.

The payback amount is less than 12 per cent of the £317,629 that the conmen raked in from the scam.

Messenger, aged 38, of Britannia Road, Rowley Regis, appeared in the dock following completion of half an 18-month prison sentence for possessing goods with a false trademark for sale and fraud relating to false bids on ebay.

Joining him were Gibbons, of Ascot Close, Oldbury, and Jones, of Midhill Drive, Rowley Regis, who were both given suspended prison sentences for selling fake-label shoes on ebay.

Police raided their homes in November 2007 and seized fake goods. The court heard yesterday that Messenger had benefited by £232,523 but had only £25,304 available. He was given 12 months to pay the available amount back.

Gibbons, 27, who admitted possessing goods with a false trademark for sale and received a suspended 12-month jail term and 200 hours of unpaid work, benefited by £56,454 but had only £8,664. Jones, 30, who admitted the same charge and was given a nine-month suspended jail sentence and 120 hours of unpaid work, benefited by £28,652 but had just £2,256 available.

Both were given six months to pay back the available amounts.