Honey Couple Appeal Fails

At the end of February in front of Lord Justice Thomas, Mrs Justice Cox and Judge Brian Barker QC, lawyers for the Bakers argued that the original sentence was “harsh and oppressive” and said the pair were struggling to find the money.(the couple had been fined last year for selling honey as Norfolk produce when it had in fact come from China)

But in dismissing their appeal the three judges said that the Bakers had put innocent shopkeepers in danger of being prosecuted for selling goods that had been wrongly labelled.

Mrs Justice Cox said that the Bakers had fought the case at every turn and that the prosecution had cost well in excess of £100,000.

“The trial took so long because of the attitude of the Bakers,” she said - and added that the trial had taken four weeks.

Source EDP

The full story

A couple from Bury St Edmunds were fined a total of £8,000 and ordered to pay a total of £70,000 costs after being found guilty of falsely selling honey as being made in Norfolk.  The honey which had been imported  from Argentina, China and other parts of the UK had been  mixed with tiny amounts of the couples honey from their own hive. It was sold acorss the County in Village shops, farm shops and post offices as NORFOLK honey.

The scam came to light when a Norfolk bee keeper spotted the jars on sale at numerous outlets  in the County and realised there was something amiss. Trading Standards took up the case and during its investigation discovered “tub apon tub” of imported honey.

Miles Bennett, prosecuting, said the Bakers mixed and supplied 17.7 tons of foreign and English honey in jars labelled Smith of Norwich. The couple made "honey runs" across the county, delivering the product and rustling up new business; making over £70,000.

"Unwittingly all the people who sold this honey were themselves committing offences," said Mr Bennett. "It put retailers at risk of prosecution and it undercut the genuine producers. These retailers, be it a post office or butchers, would not have paid any money at all for this honey if the Bakers had indicated it had been mixed."

Head of Norfolk County Council"s Trading Standards department, David Collinson, said: "People who pay for locally grown produce have a right to protection under the law so that they get what they pay for. That clearly wasn"t happening in this case - in fact, the truth of the matter was very different.
Norfolk County Council Trading Standards Department will continue to act to prevent and detect fraud and protect legitimate small businesses who are at risk."

The implications for PIN

• Produced In Norfolk has a clear legal responsibilty to insure all its members are genuinely producing in the County. This is why we visit every potential new member in their premises and why we take any alegation that members are selling products not made in the county very seriously indeed. We work closely with Norfolk Trading Standards, and all members must agree to be registered with them.
• Approximatey 20% of businesses enquiring about PIN membership are found not to meet the Produced In Norfolk  membership criteria
• The idea for a Produced In Norfolk Co-op  was conceived over three years ago, because so many producers were facing devaluation of market prices due to food and artisan products being perceived by retailers and consumers as being made in the County when they were  not.

This prosecution underlines the  real value of PIN membership as an accreditation scheme of genuine Norfolk products

William Baker, 58, and his wife Lynn, 54 were sentenced on 28th April at Norwich Crown Court