A fisherman who claimed he was forced to give up the sea after being traumatised by two separate sinkings has been jailed for distributing and selling fake DVDs.
Despite an impassioned plea from solicitor advocate Shahid Latif, Paul Mackenzie, 38, was imprisoned for a year by Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood for his 14-month-old online enterprise, using the name “Illegal Trader.”
Sentence was deferred for a background report.
Inverness Sheriff Court was told that Mackenzie, now of Blackwell Court, Inverness, but formerly from Stornoway, had been involved in two “life-changing” fishing rescues in the past 10 years.
Mr Latif told the Sheriff that they led to his client being diagnosed with post traumatic stress and being unable to work.
He added; “He also fell into a mire of debt and if he is not jailed, he faces immediate battles with debt collectors.
“He was involved in two life-changing events linked to the sinking of vessels on which he was employed. On one occasion, he was saved by the coastguard at the last minute.”
Mr Mackenzie claimed to be one of nine crewmen from two fishing boats which both ran aground on a small island off Skye in 2009.
His vessel, Nil Desperandum 111, went to the assistance of another stricken vessel the My Amber.
Mr Mackenzie told social workers he was also a crewman on the “Coastal Surveyor”, which was involved in several incidents, including one where it caught fire off the Hebrides.
Fiscal depute Roderick Urquhart told the court that Mackenzie’s offences came to light after a consignment of pre-recorded counterfeit DVD Box sets from Hong Kong and described as “Photo Albums” was seized at East Midlands Airport on November 24, 2014.
Police raided Mackenzie’s home and found numerous copies of pre-recorded DVD’s throughout the flat in a seemingly organised fashion ready for distribution or onward sale.
Mr Urquhart said 741 copy DVDs were seized, mostly box sets of TV series like “Downton Abbey”, “The Pacific”, “The Walking Dead” and “The Sopranos.”
They also found two carrier bags containing 34 envelopes ready for posting.
“He later told police he was aware that the DVDs were counterfeit and that he had been purchasing them for approximately a year from a website based in China and that during his time selling these DVDs he had no other source of income.
“They had a total value of £16,615.55. In addition, the estimated loss to the film industry in respect of infringed copyright and infringed trademarks was £11,861.36 and £11,527.80 respectively.
“Evidence from eBay established that he had been actively selling DVDs online between the periods 10 September 2013 and 19 December 2014.”