A man who ran a DVD counterfeiting factory from a rented bedroom has escaped a jail term.

John Mill, 44, copied and sold thousands of DVDs and CDs from a loft conversion on Westfield Road, Sutton.

Sutton Police and officials from the Federation Against Copyright Theft (Fact) raided a home on February 5 and found a sophisticated array of hi-tech Blu-ray recording equipment.

A stock of 5,000 DVDs at £3 to £5 each were also found and £6,410 was seized from a safe.

Mill told police the money was part of a building society loan and said he received £200 a week from a Chinese man and had not paid income tax for a long time.

On May 6, he was charged under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act.

He later pleaded guilty and at Croydon Crown Court on July 16, was handed an eight-month suspended prison sentence for two years, 100 hours unpaid community work and was ordered to pay £150 costs.

Mill was also ordered to forfeit £6,000 in cash that was in the safe at the address.

Yesterday the owner of the house said she knew nothing about the pirating operation.

She said: “We just rented it out to this guy for two weeks and we didn’t have a clue what he was using it for until the police arrived.”

Police Sergeant Andy Barnes, who led the investigation with PC Krystal Dawson, said: “Clearly this was a sizeable business that we have shut down.

"This operation was the result of an intelligence-led operation by police and Fact and is the first time the two organisations have worked together in a joint operation in Sutton.”

Detective Constable Graham Cocks, of Sutton’s financial investigation unit, said: “It appears that Mill had significantly benefited financially from producing counterfeit DVDs and looked set to make even more money when the DVDs were sold.”

At the Sutton Borough Police Commendation Ceremony on the June 23, Sgt Barnes and PC Dawson received a borough commander’s commendation for their successful investigation.

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