Community Life

The officers discovered thousands of the counterfeits at the home of 39 year old Eric Hooper, from Winchester Avenue. They found more than 2,000 files of movies, computer games and music. They also discovered approximately 150 hardcore pornographic films. It’s thought the value of all the items was more than £200,000.

The prosecution followed a raid in April 2007 after Trading Standards received an anonymous tip-off.  They were told Mr Hooper would be selling CDs and DVDs at a car boot sale in Essex. Undercover officers then visited the fair and made a sample purchase.

Councillor Eric Munday, Cabinet Member with responsibility for Trading Standards, said: “This kind of piracy harms legitimate business and in this current economic climate we will be more determined to protect Havering firms and jobs.

He continued “we are particularly pleased with the sentence, given that young people may have been able to obtain extremely repulsive pornographic films.”

The blockbuster movies Mr Hooper produced included The Da Vinci Code, the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Rambo films. Computer games included Call Of Duty III, Tomb Raider and Batman Begins. The music contained The Beatles, Kaiser Chiefs, Macy Gray and Johnny Cash.