BELLCHAMBERS:PAYBACK TIME FOR CROOK WHO SOLD FAKE GOLF CLUBS ON EBAY

A businessman who pocketed a fortune by selling fake branded golf clubs on eBay was today (Tues) ordered to pay back £1million or face five more years behind bars.
 
Gary Bellchambers, 47, known as ‘The Big Man’, was jailed for four years and three months in March last year after he admitted masterminding the international scam.

His Thailand-based gang of British ex-pats – the self-styled ‘Rogues’ – flooded the auction website with knock-off versions of big-brand golf equipment, netting millions in illegal profits.

Bogus clubs were manufactured in China and shipped to the UK for as little as £3 apiece, and sold to customers worldwide at up to £100.

The scam only came to light when an Essex pensioner called Christine Manz complained to Havering Council about a club she had bought.

A council investigation, codenamed ‘Augusta’ after the world-famous American golf course, subsequently revealed the astonishing scale of the illegal trade.

Bellchambers was back in the dock at Snaresbrook Crown Court today (Tues) for a confiscation hearing in his case.

The hearing had been scheduled to last for up to three weeks, with both prosecution and defence expected to present evidence in a bid to establish the true extent of his wealth.

But in an ’11th hour’ deal with the authorities, Bellchambers agreed that his available realisable assets amounted to £998,638.95.

Judge Jacqueline Beech gave Bellchambers four months to pay that amount or face an extra five years of jail time in default.

The businessman’s total agreed benefit from the scam was set at £1,668,607.04, but the lower sum represents the money which is now available to him.

The judge also ordered him to pay £250,000 towards the costs of the prosecution.

Tracy Ayling, QC, representing Bellchambers, asked for six months for her client to pay the money, as a large part of his assets is made up of property in Thailand.

But Judge Beech told the defendant: ‘You are an intelligent man with great business acumen.

‘I am sure you have many contacts in Thailand who will be able to help you liquidise your assets to meet the terms of this order.’

Miss Ayling also asked the judge to set a lower custody period in default of payment, pointing out that her client had saved public money by agreeing the assets figure.

She said: ‘Whilst this is an 11th hour agreement with the Crown, this defendant has saved the court time by avoiding a very long and complicated hearing.’

But the judge replied: ‘That goes both ways’, and said a full hearing might have revealed that Bellchambers’ assets were ‘much higher’ than the sum agreed.

Bellchambers, of (5) Dunedin Road, Rainham, Essex, admitted one count of conspiracy to sell or distribute goods bearing signs likely to be mistaken for a registered trademark and two counts of unauthorised use of trademark.

Earlier prosecutor Adam Davis revealed that virtually every top golf brand – including TaylorMade, Odyssey and Callaway – was copied in the ‘single largest counterfeiting conspiracy yet uncovered on eBay’.

Over a four year period between 2003 and 2008, golfers were ripped off in Australia, America, Germany, Italy, France, Canada, Holland, Brazil and New Zealand.
 
Closer to home victims in West Yorkshire, Wales, Dorset, Birmingham, Belfast, Aberdeen, Herefordshire, Berkshire and Dublin in the Republic of Ireland were also duped.

Bellchambers was a frequent visitor to the popular coastal resort of Pattaya in Thailand where he teamed up with ‘The Rogues’ in a plot to sell bogus clubs all over the world.
 
Within Pattaya’s ex-pat community, Bellchambers was seen as a successful international businessman, owning up to 10 houses in Thailand, a part share in a £1.5million yacht, a floating restaurant in Australia and shares in more than 20 companies.
 
But at home in Rainham, Essex, he lived in an ex-council house and drove an old Ford Escort in a bid to avoid the attention of the authorities.
ENDS