A man who sold gay porn DVDs from his house in Leeds has been given a six month prison sentence, suspended for two years. The 55-year-old man advertised the DVDs at prices ranging between £5 and £7 each in gay magazines and he had been running his illegal mail order business for seven years – even though he had been cautioned in 2006 for similar offences. When police raided the man’s house they discovered around 1,500 DVDs.
When he appeared at Leeds Magistrates Court the man admitted using a premises as a licensed sex establishment and five offences of possessing unclassified video recordings for purposes of sale.
He was given a six month prison sentence suspended for two years and ordered to do 150 hours of unpaid work. The Yorkshire Evening Post reported that Mr Justice Butterfield told him: “The persistency in which you carried out this business suggests to me you require a clear indication from the court of what is going to happen if you were unwise enough to continue to offend in this way.”
The judge added that the sentence would have been harsher if the man had not been responsible for caring for his elderly mother. A confiscation hearing will be held at a later date.
