Foreign satellite supplier could face jail

A supplier of foreign satellite football equipment is facing jail after pleading guilty to eight charges of supplying decoder cards to pubs.

Mark Elsdon, from Llandudno, Conwy, supplied 17 pubs and made £5,000 from the cards, Mold Crown Court heard yesterday.

He is understood to be the first dealer of foreign satellite equipment to be convicted of the offence in Wales and England, under the Copyright Designs and Patents Act.

Elsdon was remanded on bail and will be sentenced at Caernarfon Crown Court on April 11.

The offences carry a maximum prison sentence of 10 years, the court was told.

Elsdon - who previously worked as a magician and wrote magic books - admitted to four counts of supplying ART decoder cards and four counts of offering to sell Nova decoder cards.

He also denied three fraud charges, claiming the use of the cards were legal, and one charge of perverting the course of justice by asking for one of the cards to be destroyed.

Elsdon's defence said his client believed the cards to be legal in the UK. He said he had been advised by the European Satellite Television Association (ESTA) that they were legal and at the time of the offences, in 2006 and 2007, the law was in a state of confusion.

Elsdon was originally charged last year following a raid on his premises by Conwy Police and Conwy Council's trading standards department.

A Premier League spokesman said: "This sends out a message to the trade and confirms the illegality of supplying as well as using such cards, and confirms that ESTA and their propaganda messaging should be disregarded."

However Colin McGhee, chairman of ESTA, said: "Elsdon is not an ESTA member and his case is not typical of other satellite dealers.

"Even after Elsdon applied to join ESTA and asked for our help he did not follow our advice, we parted company, and he went on his own way about how to fight this case.

"For the FAPL to pretend that any decision has been reached here is nonsense."