Durham town revealed as unlikely hardcore porn hub

Once an industrial hub known for its iron and steel making, the sleepy town of Consett is now a hotbed of hardcore porn.

Yes, hundreds of residents of the County Durham town have been making a living as directors of websites called things like amateurm***town.com.

According to a Reuters investigation, over 400 locals were paid to act as directors of shell companies based in and around the town.

With no traditional business operation in Britain, they required the services of Consett’s locals to provide legitimate UK addresses and forward on post.

The shell companies – which also sold colon cleansers, diet pills and poker games – were set up by Simon Dowson, 35, as a means of helping online businesses trade within Europe.

He said everyone involved was fully aware of what the business was – but many of the Consett locals are pleading ignorance.

John Mawson, 61, told Reuters that he became involved with the scheme after being made redundant in 2009, accepting a neighbour’s offer of £50 simply for providing his name and address. He said: “We were all on the dole and it was free money.”

Mr Mawson said he had no idea he was a director of porn site company Thunder Flash Entertainment.

The Times quoted Mr Dowson as saying: “Any individual that was ever appointed to a company by us 100 per cent consented to do so, was aware of what the business was and received the fees for doing so.”

Top image: Dennis Lovett/Geograph