A MAN who sold fake Apple products has been ordered to pay more than £40k from the proceeds of his crimes.

Andrew Peter Twigg, of Manor Drive in Barnton, was sentenced to serve two years in prison, but had that sentence suspended for two years at Chester Crown Court back in February.

The 36-year-old set up Twigg Tech Limited, a company that sold thousands of spare parts and accessories for Apple iPhones and iPads via an eBay store and his own company website.

However, the products he was selling resulted in a total of 13 charges - nine related to trademark offences while the other four were for breaches of the Electrical Equipment Safety Regulations 2016.

Twigg was caught after an undercover test purchase was made by investigators and in addition to the suspended sentence must also complete 250 hours of unpaid work and his company was fined a total of £113,000.

And, at a proceeds from crime hearing at Chester Crown Court on Friday, July 29, he was also ordered to pay an additional £45,035.53.

He was given three months to pay and failure to do so will result in 12 months imprisonment. Prosecution costs of £11,296.50 are also to be paid within three months.

Between October 2015 and October 2018, the company had a turnover in excess of £960,000.

The declared taxable profit over that three-year period was over £108,000.

The prosecution case was that a significant proportion of items sold by the company were counterfeit, with unauthorised Apple logos on them.

During a search of the defendant’s home by police and Trading Standards in April 2019, a total of 5,147 items were seized of which just under 95 per cent (4,876) were found to be counterfeit.

Councillor Louise Gittins, leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council said: "Our Trading Standards team will take action against anyone found selling counterfeit products in our borough.

"Please report any items you believe to be fake, whilst these goods will be cheaper than the legitimate product they are likely to be inferior products that could also be unsafe."