‘Naive’ pirate had bedroom CD copying operation

David Finney, 60, set up an internet business selling pirated material but was arrested after British Recorded Music Industry investigators made test purchases and found the CDs they had been sold were fake.

A search of his house in Barnsley in November last year found Finney had been downloading tracks and copying them in his bedroom.

Prosecutor Elizabeth Martin told Sheffield Crown Court he had copied nearly 200,000 items, which at 97p each would have been worth £197,000 to the music industry.

She added: “This kind of activity is costing millions of pounds a year to the industry, which has a knock-on effect on employment and clearly is a matter of concern.”

Finney, of Poplar Terrace, Royston, admitted distributing copyright material without a licence from May 1, 2007 to November 22, 2010.

A number of payments were identified from his PayPal account and he appeared to have benefited by £12,055 with just over £9,000 in his bank accounts.

Paul O’Shea defending, said: “He is 60, of previous good character and is not a well man. He is terrified of the prospect of going to prison.”

Recorder Sandeep Kainth said an aggravating feature of the case was the four-year period over which the copyright material was breached.

Finney could have been facing a jail term of between six months and three years, but the judge said he had made no attempt to hide his identity and there was a “degree of naivety” about the operation.

He told him: “It does warrant a custodial sentence but not immediately.”

Finney was given a nine-month jail term suspended for a year. He will be electronically tagged and subject to a night-time curfew for four months.

A confiscation order of his assets of £9,014 was made and he will have to forfeit his pirating equipment.