Mastermind behind fraud website jailed

John McHugh, 66, was given a two year sentence after being convicted of conspiracy to fraud.

He was jailed alongside Renukanth Subramaniam, 33, who was one of the masterminds behind the DarkMarket website, used for trading stolen banking information which was linked to losses of tens of millions of pounds.

Subramaniam was jailed for four years and eight months for his part.

The site was described by the prosecutors as a "one-stop shop" for fraudsters, offering criminals a place to trade credit card details and discuss how to carry out financial crimes, Blackfriars Crown Court heard.

Subramaniam, who came to Britain from Sri Lanka as an asylum seeker in 1991, was described as "pivotal" to the website's success.

Sandip Patel, prosecuting, said: "We say that he was at the heart of DarkMarket, maybe not at the very moment of its inception but certainly soon afterwards."

Passing sentence, Judge John Hillen said: "Criminals should learn from this case that, even in cyberspace, there is no hiding place."

DarkMarket, which was created in 2005, was shut down by an undercover FBI officer after a two-year global investigation.

Police discovered a sophisticated counterfeit credit card factory at McHugh's house, the court heard.

But Nina Grahame, his counsel, said he had made no more than 30,000 from his criminal activities.