Father and son jailed for selling fake hand sanitiser

More than 24,000 bottles of the "useless" hand sanitiser were sold

A father and son have been jailed for more than two years for selling "useless" sanitiser during the Covid-19 pandemic.

William Irving, 69, and Alexander Irving, 35, claimed their product was "effective against coronavirus".

The pair sold almost 25,000 bottles, but customers raised concerns with Trading Standards.

They pleaded guilty to fraudulent trading offences in January 2023, and were sentenced at Bristol Crown Court on Monday.

The Irvings, both of both of Woodend Lane, Hill, South Gloucestershire, ran Aquatic Chemicals Limited (ACL) from a unit at Woodlands Farm near Berkeley where, in March 2020, they began to produce and sell hand sanitiser.

It sold for up to £10 per 100ml, with the company making at least £95,000 in just two weeks amid an unparalleled demand for the product.

The pair claimed that the product contained 70% alcohol, could "kill 99% of germs" and was "effective against coronavirus", as well as indicating that it had been laboratory tested by the World Health Organisation, according to South Gloucestershire Council.

But Trading Standards soon began to receive complaints from customers raising suspicions that the sanitiser may be fake, and did not smell of alcohol.

The council said its Trading Standards team initially tried to engage with the pair, but launched a criminal investigation after they refused to cooperate.

Customers who had brought the product, including a charity and a housing association, were contacted and more than 1,300 bottled were removed from sale.

Testing of product samples showed that the majority of bottles contained just 1% alcohol, far lower than the 60% required to meet effectiveness requirements.

Product 'useless' as a sanitiser

Professor Primrose Freestone, associate professor in clinical microbiology at the University of Leicester, further analysed the samples and said the product was "useless" as a hand sanitiser.

William Irving William attempted to convince Trading Standards that the sanitiser had been produced by an unidentified individual who had rented a unit from him at his premises but had left it there, so he simply decided to sell it.

The Irvings were prosecuted for fraudulent trading offences under the Companies Act by South Gloucestershire Council and initially both pleaded guilty to them at Bristol Crown Court in January 2023, but later applied to the court to withdraw their pleas, claiming they had been under pressure to plea guilty.

Both applications failed in February 2024.

Jailing the Irvings to two years and two months each on Monday, judge Michael Cullum said the pair clearly knew the product was not as they claimed it to be, but had persisted in "preying on public fears".

Shaun Fudge, service manager for Trading Standards at South Gloucestershire Council, said The Irvings "blatantly profiteered from a ‘useless’ product".

The two will also face another hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act, to take place on 1 July 2024.