Three men have received suspended sentences following a four year City of London and Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) investigation.

Eric Brooks, 43, from Bolton, Mark Valentine, 44, from Manchester and Craig Lloyd, 33, from Wolverhampton, were all sentenced at Inner London Crown Court on Monday, the 19th of June, following initial arrests in July 2012.

FACT first identified criminal activity back in February 2011, eventually referring the case to City of London Police in March the following year.

Since the arrests, police uncovered chat logs and PayPal deposits showing that Brooks had rented server space from a Dutch company and for over eight years stored £100,000 worth of movies, games, music and e-books.

Charging customers access to the pirated content netted Brooks over £500,000, according to PayPal data. Computers seized from Valentine and Lloyd revealed that the pair had been sub-letting server space from Brooks, allowing them to earn an income of over £34,000 and £70,000, respectively.

Police estimate that Brooks’s actions defrauded the TV and film industry alone of more than £2.5m in lost income. It’s unclear how much revenue was lost by the music and games industries.

The trio were charged on 15 July 2016 and subsequently all pleaded guilty before trial. They will later be subject to a confiscation hearing, which will determine how much, if any, of their possessions have been bought with illegally earned money.

Detective Constable Chris Glover, who led the investigation for the City of London Police, said: “The success of this investigation is a result of co-ordinated joint working between the City of London Police and FACT.

“Brooks, Valentine and Lloyd all thought that they were operating under the radar and doing something which they thought was beyond the controls of law enforcement.

“However what today has shown is that activity of this kind is illegal and most definitely has its consequences. The actions of Brooks, Valentine and Lloyd and the result should act as deterrent for anyone else who is enticed by abusing the internet to the detriment of the entertainment industry”.

Brooks was sentenced to 24 months, suspended for 12 months and ordered to complete 140 hours of unpaid work. Valentine and Lloyd were each given 18 months, suspended for 12 months and ordered to complete 80 hours unpaid work.

“Pirates!!!” by Guru Snu Studios is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.