A woman from Chesterton has been hit with a £400 court fine after flogging fake Louis Vuitton handbags and purses online.

Jade Crutchley, 28, of Cooper Street, set up a Facebook page advertising the knock-off goods for sale.

North Staffordshire Justice Centre heard she had more 17,500 members on the page when she was caught. An investigation had been launched in 2022 by TM Eye Limited, a global company which works on behalf of well-known brands such as Louis Vuitton, Cartier and Jimmy Choo to tackle intellectual property crimes.

As part of the investigation into Crutchley, three test purchases were carried out to provide evidence that the goods were counterfeit.

An operative from TM Eye accessed the Facebook group where Crutchley was advertising a Louis Vuitton branded bag for £28 – the retail value of the bag was £2,080. She provided Paypal details on September 9, 2022. On receipt of the bag it was clearly shown to be counterfeit.

Crutchley pleaded guilty to three charges of selling goods with a sign or packaging bearing a sign identical or likely to be mistaken for registered trade mark. She also admitted one offence of possessing goods with a false trade mark for sale or hire.

Jade Crutchley, 28, of Cooper Street, Chesterton, was fined for selling fake goods online (Google).

The prosecutor from TM Eye told the court: "Consent was not obtained from Louis Vuitton, the operation had some degree of organised planning."

James Hulse, mitigating, told the court: "She was approached by a gentleman from Turkey who asked Ms Crutchley if she would like to sell on their behalf. She thinks she is doing nothing wrong as other people are doing it.

"As soon as she was contacted she stopped. She fell into a trap and other people are doing the same. There is some degree of exploitation from the gentleman from Turkey. There is no evidence (from screenshots of the Facebook page) that she had the goods in her possession or in fact they were counterfeit."

The court issued a £480 fine with an additional £48 victim surcharge which will be paid back at £20 per month.

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