A MAN who made over £46,000 by illegally supplying satellite television has narrowly avoided being sent straight to prison.

Alexander Woodmass had around 50 customers, including pubs and clubs in the North-East, who paid him for their Sky coverage.

Durham Crown Court heard the fraud potentially cost the broadcaster £112,000 in lost subscriptions over the two-and-a-half year period.

Shaun Dryden, prosecuting, said: “The defendant was running a card sharing network. This defendant was effectively running a business. “They were paying the defendant so he was making money.

“He was in control of the software and if subscriptions were not paid viewing could be stopped.”

The 49-year-old self-employed builder admitted six counts of fraud, covering a period from April 2011 and December 2013.

Mr Dryden said: “What makes his culpability high is the sophisticated nature of the offence.

“It is a fairly technical fraud and it is sustained over a lengthy period of time.”

Three charges relate to possession of articles for use in fraud, a micro-server and pc tower both containing card-sharing software, and card-sharing data.

Two counts relate to supplying articles for use in fraud, satellite receiving boxes and card-sharing data capable of receiving Sky TV without paying subscription.

The sixth charge is one of obtaining services by deception, namely subscription owner TV broadcast content when no payment was made, gaining access via a card-sharing server.

Mitigating, Nick Lane said Woodmass, of Burnside, Witton Gilbert, near Durham, had spent almost £20,000 on equipment and cards to enable him to run the business.

He said: “While he has made gains I would submit that the gain is not so large when one looks at the outlay he has put into it.”

The court was told it started as a hobby for friends and family and ‘snowballed’ from there.

Judge Robin Mairs sentenced Woodmass to two years in prison,, suspended for two years, and ordered him to do 250 hours unpaid work.

He said: “You must have known the illegality and the seriousness of what you were doing. You did this quite clearly for money and that money was sizeable.

“You have come within a hair’s breadth of prison today.”