Trading Standards officers have warned bootleggers peddling pirated CDs that they are on their trail, following the conviction of music crook Mark Jenkins.

At Oxford Crown Court yesterday, Jenkins, 34, admitted conspiring with others to distribute thousands of pirated recordings of live concerts to collecters and traders around the world.

His operation was the largest of its kind in Britain, and Jenkins, of Beaulieu Close, Banbury, will be sentenced in six weeks time. He could face a heavy fine and up to two years in prison.

Now Brian Yendole, of Oxfordshire Trading Standards, which took three years to clinch Jenkins's conviction, said they were on the trail of more dodgy dealers.

He said: "I am pleased this lengthy investigation has been swiftly concluded in court. "The result lets anyone involved in bootlegging know that the county council is prepared to take strong enforcement action where appropriate to protect consumers and reputable traders."

Jenkins set up his crooked trade in 1994 under the name of Quantum Elite Distribution (QED) from a unit in Telford Road, Bicester, and used false identities and different company names in his dealings.

Prosecutor Christopher Clark told the court Jenkins distributed his wares through mail order and at record fairs. Among the artists' whose recordings he sold were The Rolling Stones, Bon Jovi, Oasis and Led Zeppelin. Following a tip-off in 1994, a worker at the anti-piracy unit of the British Phonographic Industry ordered a catalogue from the firm, which sent her two Beatles CDs from QED, called The Beatles' Hollywood Bowl Complete 1964-1965 and The Beatles From Yesterday Forever. Both were bootlegs.

The woman later ordered CDs of The Cure, The Wonderstuff and Simple Minds, which also turned out to be pirate copies.

The BPI then contacted Oxfordshire's Trading Standards and officers started their investigation.

A surveillance operation by the BPI led trading standards officers to search a warehouse .

When trading standards officers searched the QED warehouse in Botley Road, Oxford, in 1995, they found 61,000 bootleg CDs worth more than stored in the name of The Import Music Company, another of Jenkins' firm. They all were bootlegs and they were stored with recording equipment, tapes and documents. The total value of their discovery was over £1m.

Last year officers raided Jenkins' home and found more recording equipment and CDs.

Documents found at the house showed Jenkins had dealings with collectors and traders in Portugal, Italy, Germany and the USA, had travelled to record fairs abroad, and bought recording equipment from Witney Audio Visuals in Witney.

Mr Clark said: "The evidence shows that substantial profits were and could be made. It also reveals the length to which the defendant went to conceal and cover his activities and identity.

"He regularly used aliases and company addresses to suit his purposes. In all, the circumstances revealed by the evidence in this case, showed that the defendant knew precisely well that what he was doing was unlawful."

On Tuesday, two co-defendants, Alison Baldwin, Jenkins's girlfriend, of Beaulieu Close, Banbury, and Stephen Coombes, of Middle Lane, Shotteswell, near Banbury, were acquitted of the charges.

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