A HAYES man has been ordered by a court to pay back £40,000 he made by selling counterfeit iPhone batteries on eBay.

Sanjay Giri, 54, of Clayton Road, was also ordered to pay £10,000 towards Hillingdon Council's court costs following Proceeds of Crime Act proceedings at Isleworth Crown Court.

Giri had been convicted by a jury at the same court in March and sentenced the following day, for five counts of trademark infringement.

Following an investigation from Hillingdon Council’s trading standards team in October 2019, the court heard how Giri, trading on eBay as Lithium Power Ltd, had been selling batteries listed as ‘Official 100% Genuine Apple’ but were actually counterfeit.

The probe uncovered that Lithium Power had sold 714 batteries all marked with the Apple Community Trade Mark, priced at £13.99, yielding almost £10,000 in revenue for Giri.

A warrant for Giri’s home was executed and a further 676 of the counterfeit batteries were found and seized, along with other electrical goods.

Cllr Eddie Lavery, Cabinet Member for Residents’ Services, said: “I thank the trading standards team, whose excellent work here has very much proved that crime doesn’t pay.”

Giri was given three months to pay back the £40,000 he is estimated to have earned from the dishonest sales, or he would face a nine-month default prison sentence.