Lubenham pottery fraud couple ordered to pay £80,000

Cornishware pottery value varies widely depending on the rarity of labels and designs

A Leicestershire couple who altered collectable pottery to make it seem more valuable have been ordered to pay compensation of more than £40,000.

Aimee Bailey, 46, and Craig Bailey, 53, bought lower cost Cornishware and made it look like rarer examples, said the county council.

Online customers became suspicious and reported the pair to trading standards.

At Leicester Crown Court they admitted fraud and were sentenced to 21 months imprisonment, suspended for two years.

They were also ordered to pay compensation to the seven victims totalling £40,850 and prosecution costs of £40,000.

The couple, who operated from their home on Theddingworth Road near Lubenham, were given community punishment orders of 80 hours of unpaid work.

Trading Standards said the fraud involved tampering with Cornishware storage jars, which vary in rarity and value depending on the designs and painted labels.

'Proactive' scam

In one case, officers said, Craig Bailey bought a jar marked 'sago' for £29.99, then altered it to the much rarer 'walnuts' which was sold on for £400.

The Baileys told customers they had acquired the entire collection from a reclusive collector in Yorkshire.

After being alerted by members of the public, trading standards sent examples for expert analysis, which showed that the pots sold by the Baileys had been tampered with.

Gary Connors, head of Leicestershire Trading Standards Service, said: "This fraud was organised and repeated with the sole intention of making a substantial profit on every sale.

"The defendants proactively engaged online with collectors of Cornishware to scam them into buying fakes.

"This case sends a clear message to those that seek to commit fraud within a niche trading sector; you are not 'under the radar', we will investigate and prosecute any form of fraudulent trading that seeks to undermine a sector that by its nature is reliant on truthful trading practices."