A MILLIONAIRE businessman who sold illegal digital television boxes has narrowly avoided jail.

Malcolm Mayes, from Hartlepool, pleaded guilty at Teesside Crown Court to two charges of selling and advertising digital boxes to “circumvent technological measures” and to access subscription only television.

The 65-year-old, who lives in the town’s Egerton Road, was given two ten-month prison sentence suspended for 12 months to run concurrently, and was ordered to pay £170,000 legal costs to Hartlepool Borough Council and an £80,000 confiscation order.

Mr Mayes admitted selling devices designed, produced or adapted for the purpose of enabling or facilitating the circumvention of effective technological measures between March 1, 2012 and November 30, 2014 and advertising for sale such devices between January 1 and November 30, 2014.

The boxes allowed people to access a range of television channels without paying a subscription fee.

The digital television box itself is not illegal, but it is against the law to sell them with the capability of accessing copyrighted material.

The court heard Mr Mayes, who spends much of his time in Spain after moving there in 2001, had infringed the copyright and allowed access to sport broadcasts, in particular coverage of Premier League football matches.

Prosecutor Richard Wright QC told the court Mr Mayes had sold 100 of the boxes for around £1,000.

“He sold a large number of boxes across a wide geographical area, and received around £100,000 for them.”

Defence lawyer John Elvidge QC said Mr Mayes, who traded through a website called livepubfootball.tv, had a “long record of work” and “contributed to the community” by employing workers.

“He is a man of good character - he knows what he has done wrong and he knows the consequences”

“This has been a lesson learnt at considerable financial cost.”

Mr Mayes had worked as a steel erector before establishing a legitimate TV aerial business, as well as glass shop, a hairdressers and a loft insulation business.

Judge Simon Hickey said Mr Mayes “must be aware of how the system works” and was “pitching the product for industry not individuals”.

“There has been clear remorse shown and, critically for this sentence, a very low likelihood of reoffending.”

Mr Mayes was ordered to pay the £170,000 legal costs within three months and the £80,000 confiscation order within seven days.

Speaking after the hearing, Ian Harrison, trading standards and licensing manager for Hartlepool Borough Council, said Mr Mayes was “stealing to make himself richer” and should not be seen as a “Robin-Hood-type character”.

“In pleading guilty, Mr Mayes has accepted that it is illegal to sell a device that allows the free viewing of pay-to-view television - this is common sense and should be obvious to anyone.

“Many of the pubs and clubs that bought his devices lost significant amounts of money when they failed to operate as promised.

“Trading Standards will continue to target those traders and individuals who make their living from selling counterfeit goods or in other ways allow intellectual property to be stolen.”