FOUR men convicted of running a huge counterfeit porn DVD factory in Hull face jail.
Former sex shop owner Fred Thompson, 69, was the ringleader of the operation, which saw the gang copying and distributing tens of thousands of illegal sex DVDs across the world.
Hull Crown Court heard dozens of customers complained about the poor quality of the recordings.
The scam was run by Thompson, of Conway Close, west Hull, in partnership with Shaun Langley.
Nigel Maw, 52, of Oak Drive, Newport, and his son David Maw, 31, of Malvern Road, west Hull, had entered into an agreement to buy the mail order business from Thompson and were working there.
All of them had a financial interest in the business at the time.
Hull Crown Court heard the defendants copied fake DVDs at a factory in St Georges Road, west Hull, and had industrial machines to print fake packaging for them.
They then sold illicit and unauthorised copies by mail order and over the internet.
Trading Standards officers raided the factory and found all four defendants working there.
They were trading under the names of Fantasy Dome and Fantasy Dome Online.
Officers found two large blue storage containers full of illegal DVDs.
Prosecutor Charlene Sumnall said: "This is not a case about the morality of porn or adult entertainment. Whether you like it or not, there is a market for legitimate porn and thousands of customers use it everyday.
"Those customers, like any others, deserve protection from being defrauded. Just like any other release, it has to go before the film board to see if it is lawful and OK to be sold.
"All four defendants played individual and key roles in this agreement to produce, distribute, defraud and encourage the sale of adult content material.
"All the material found, save for a few original discs, have been found to be illicit.
"A large DVD rewriter was able to produce four copies of a DVD at the same time.
"Unsuspecting members of the public were in no position to complain to Trading Standards that they were getting shoddy discs because of the nature of the product."
Officers found letters from customers complaining the films were not as long as they were supposed to be and were of poor quality.
A jury at Hull Crown Court found all four men unanimously guilty of conspiracy to make, distribute and defraud customers by producing illegal porn DVDs following a three-week trial.
Judge Mark Bury told them: "You have all been convicted and I will adjourn sentence. You can all have bail in the meantime.
"These are serious offences for which a sentence of imprisonment may well be passed and this sentence will be immediate."
In the same raid, officers also uncovered the city's first counterfeiting currency scam, which saw more than £22,000 of fake notes produced.
The former Adultnation sex shop, in Hull's Beverley Road, had been transformed into a counterfeiting den producing £10, £20 and 50 euro notes.
Officers discovered notes in various stages of production and found a large stash of sheets of newly printed notes hidden under a carpet.
Thompson was previously found guilty of possessing £2,380 in counterfeit notes with intent to spend them and was given a six-month prison sentence.
Langley, of north Hull, pleaded guilty to producing the notes at the shop, claiming he was working under orders from his boss and was previously jailed for two years.
Most of the fake money was spent in the Beverley area.
The court heard Thompson said: "I like to be Jack The Lad in Hessle Road. I am not ashamed of my offending. I have never hurt anybody."
Sentencing is due next month.
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