Illegal porn explosion in Swindon

12:17pm Friday 16th May 2008

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ILLEGAL porn films, some featuring animals, are being touted for sale in Swindon town centre.

Trading Standards officers say a haul of unclassified smut seized last week may have been too perverted to comply with sex industry rules.

The pirate films, with a street value of £3,000, were seized from illegal immigrant Zhong Chen.

Around half of the films were of an adult nature.

Chen, 36, of no fixed address, was sentenced to five and a half months in prison on Saturday.

He was caught trying to sell 342 movies on the Elgin Industrial Estate.

Trading Standards officers believe some of the films included depraved sex acts with animals.

They also think that Chen was just one of many people touting pirate DVDs in the town - and that it will not be long before those behind the pirating operation will replace him with another street seller.

"What they have been doing is going round the trading estates and building sites, selling them that way," said Phil Thomas, head of commercial regulation at Swindon Council.

"We have even had some indication of them going into a town centre music shop.

"And we are almost certain this guy will be replaced. We are talking about a national organised crime network.

"I have no doubt that they won't be being choosy about who they are selling whatever to. I don't think they will be asking for ID before selling counterfeit DVDs, some adult material could be making into underage hands.

"We are closing the net on those who are perpetrating the crime and trying to eradicate it from Swindon."

Mr Thomas said the films seized by officers could not legally be sold in the UK.

"These films haven't been through the formal classification process," he said. "We haven't viewed the films, but it was clear from the covers some of them were not very nice.

"We don't think there is any suggestion children were involved - but one of them did include a dog.

"Films like that would never be classified in this country.

"This prosecution was part of a two-month operation involving police and businesses who passed on intelligence to us.

"This man received the near maximum sentence for this offence, which goes to show how serious the magistrates viewed this case."

The owner of a Swindon sex shop blamed the council's refusal to grant licences to sell hardcore material for the spread of the sale of counterfeit films.

Peter Wannell of The Exchange Adult Shop in Cricklade Road, Gorse Hill, said illegal DVD sales were damaging his business - and were flooding Swindon.

He says he cannot compete with the discount prices offered for pirate films.

"There are so many pirated films infiltrating Swindon," said Peter "The town is rife with it and it's a growing problem. It's crippling businesses and my takings are down by 25 per cent this year.

"When you don't have a licence to sell hardcore material there is a market for these people in Swindon.

"It's not only me that is affected. All the video shops are struggling with the counterfeiters selling the normal stuff."

Peter said pirate sellers were touting knock-off DVDs in the Brunel Shopping Centre and had even offered him fake films in his own shop.