Two ticket touts have been ordered to hand over £6 million or face eight more years in jail.

Peter Hunter, 53, and David Thomas Smith, 68, were jailed in 2020 following a detailed investigation by the York and North Yorkshire-based national trading standards regional economic crime squad.

Leeds Crown Court heard then how they had used nearly 100 false names, hundreds of email addresses and scores of postal addresses to get hundreds of tickets to big name events they were not entitled to.

Then they sold them on secondary ticket websites to customers at inflated prices. Sometimes, they ‘sold’ tickets they didn’t have but had then to find. Their activities meant that those who paid them money faced the risk of being refused entry to the concerts or other events they had paid large amounts of money for because the ticket touts had obtained the tickets illegally.

Among popular events they targeted were Ed Sheeran concerts, the West End play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Madness and McBusted.

Trading standards officers told Leeds Crown Court today the pair had benefited by £8,750,000 through their crimes and had assets worth £6,167,522.

They were ordered to hand over all the assets. If they failed to do so within three months they face eight years in jail on top of the sentences they were given in 2020.

Hunter and Smith, both of Belside Park, London, were both convicted at a trial at Leeds of three charges of fraudulent trading, and one of possession or control of bots and debit/credit cards held in other people’s names for use in fraud. Hunter was jailed for four years and Smith for 30 months.

Cllr Denise Craghill, Executive Member for Safer Communities at City of York Council, said: "I would like to commend the partnership working in this case and the diligent and thorough work undertaken by the Financial Investigator from the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Economic Crime Unit in this lengthy and complex case. Together with our digital investigators here at City of York Council, this case has now been brought to a successful conclusion and the assets removed from these defendants will provide valuable resources in our continued fight against online fraud.”

Ruth Andrews, Regional Investigations and eCrime Manager, National Trading Standards, said: “Today’s result concludes a landmark case that demonstrates once and for all that dishonestly buying large quantities of tickets and reselling them at inflated prices is an unacceptable, illegal and fraudulent practice.

“All too often fans looking to buy tickets to sport events, music concerts and other high-profile events find that official tickets sell out in minutes before reappearing on secondary ticketing sites at vastly inflated prices. This can have a significant financial impact on consumers and I hope this ground-breaking case helps drive long-term changes in the secondary ticketing market.

“The defendants have learnt again today that crime does not pay and their futures have been irrevocably damaged by their criminal behaviour as a result. We hope this sends a message to all those who chose to engage in fraud that there are severe consequences.”