Publican loses personal licence over foreign satellite footy

A licensee has forfeited his personal licence after being found guilty for a second time of screening foreign satellite football.

Paul Moule of the Prince Harry, in Ramsgate, Kent, was also fined £1,000 and made to pay £1,000 costs.

He was prosecuted under section 297 of the 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, at Margate Magistrates.

It is understood he was using an Albanian system to show matches.

A spokeswoman for Thanet Council said it had had "no previous dealings" with the pub.

Ray Hoskin, managing director of Media Protection Services, which is paid by the Premier League to investigate pubs screening foreign satellite football, said: "The courts are now starting to appreciate this is a national problem and the fines are increasing."

The current maximum fine for breaching the Act is £5,000. Hoskin claimed "over 90 per cent" of cases are currently resulting in convictions.

He would not comment directly on whether prosecutions were being carried out against licensees using EU-sourced cards, but said evidence was being collected on all types of systems.

The long-running legal case over foreign satellite football resumes in the European Court of Justice on October 5, but it remains unclear when a final verdict will be delivered.