A CARER who sold counterfeit Superdry clothing over the internet to people in Newport, Cwmbran and Risca has avoided a jail term.

Michele Brady, 51, used her living room and upstairs bedroom of her house in Jellicoe Close to store hundreds of boxes of the counterfeit products, which she then sold over Facebook.

In 2012 an investigation started after Trading Standards were alerted to a high volume of counterfeit goods being sold in the South Wales area and the Valleys.

A Facebook account, traced to the defendant, was found to be advertising the knock-down products on Facebook, including on a group selling goods in Newport, Risca and Cwmbran.

As part of the investigation, which was passed on to Gwent Police and the prosecution service, a test purchaser visited Brady’s house.

The prosecution said it was clear Brady was selling the items “on a substantial basis” and while the test purchaser was at the address, Brady’s phone went off around 20 times in 10 minutes.

Investigators raided the house and found hundreds of counterfeit items stored in the house with other brands of products including Jack Wills, Hollister, Ralph Lauren, Ugg boots and Chanel handbags.

During one raid, police officers discovered Brady trying to destroy her laptop by running it under a tap.

A later search of the laptop found numerous facebook message mentioning counterfeit goods.

The court also heard how Brady had bank accounts with funds including £15,204 in one and £4,120 in another.

Ruth Smith, defending Brady at Newport Crown Court on Friday, said the bank accounts had been frozen and any money can be used to pay for any proceeds of crime, if the judge makes an order.

Brady, who is a registered carer for her son, pleaded guilty to 33 trademark offences. She was sentenced to six months in prison suspended for two years.

Before deciding on the sentence, Judge Patrick Curran read a pre-sentence report drawn up by probation officers and a psychiatric report.

Judge Curran said: “You’re a woman of 51 who pleaded guilty to a large number of specimen offences in respect of counterfeit goods and trading of such goods.

“The public at large are the victims of offences such as this kind.”