Yahoo News Porn dealer supplied 'unclassified' films hidden in magazines at corner shops
A purveyor of pornography was supplying "unclassified" sex films to shops in Swansea hidden inside magazines, a court has heard. None of the DVDs - which had names such as Club Holiday Hotties, Grandma And The Girl Next Door, Busty Aunties, and Cougar Trap - had age restriction markers on them, meaning they should not have been distributed to the public.
Swansea Crown Court heard Phillip Tobias was supplying the adult mags and movies to shops in Swansea on a sale or return basis from his garage. The 51-year-old father-of-two has a previous conviction for supplying unclassified porn films to shops, an offence which carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison.
Lee Reynolds, prosecuting, said in 2022 Swansea Council became aware that newsagents were selling pornographic magazines containing hidden DVDs and so arranged a test purchase operation. The first such swoop was on Valentine's Day that year when officers entered the Lifestyle Express shop on the city's St Helen's Road and bought a copy of Club International in plastic packaging. Once outside the shop the magazine was examined and a DVD entitled High Society was found in a paper envelope inside.
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There were no age restriction signs on the DVD or sleeve. and the disc inside the magazine was not visible when positioned on the shelf. The court heard similar test purchases were carried out at Wind Street Stores on Wind Street in Swansea city centre and at Conway Road Stores and Post Office on Conway Road in Penlan, Swansea, later that same week. Again unclassified pornographic DVDs were found in envelopes inside the publications.
When the owners or managers of the shops were spoken to they said the magazines had been supplied to them on a "sale or return" basis by a man from England called Phillip, and they said did not know there were DVDs inside. A series of follow up visits by trading standards officers over the following months found further magazines with unclassified discs for sale on the shelves.
On November 21 trading standards officers attended the defendant's home address in Gloucestershire and in the garage found seven boxes of pornographic magazines sealed with DVDs, bundles of pornographic magazines unwrapped and without DVDs, a bag of DVDs in individual paper sleeves, price stickers, and invoices and paperwork. In total officers seized 247 adults magazines with various titles all containing unclassified DVDs. In addition there were 290 pornographic magazines unpackaged with no DVDs, and 67 DVDs in paper sleeves. Also in the garage were boxes of vapes. In a bedroom at the property the officers found a "large quantity" of £5 notes in a bum bag.
In his interview the defendant said he "works for himself" selling vapes and magazines and had been selling the mags on a sale or return basis for many years with the shops taking a percentage of the sales. The defendant confirmed that he imported or bought the magazines from a wholesaler and that they came with DVDs, and he confirmed he knew he should not be supplying DVDs without age restrictions. On the return journey to Swansea the council officers stopped at two business premises in Newport and one in Neath which had been identified in the interview as being locations to which the defendant distributed magazines. Test purchases were then carried out at the three stores and pornographic magazines containing DVDs in paper sleeves were discovered. Then on January 5, 2023, officers attended at the Lifestyle Express in Pontarddulais - which was owned by the same person as the Lifestyle Express on St Helen's Road - and found another seven pornographic magazines containing DVDs with no age restriction markings on the DVD or packaging.
Mr Reynolds said to be fair to the defendant he wanted to make it clear that though all the DVDs involved in the case were unclassified they were capable of being classified and were not of a nature - for example depicting bestiality - which meant they would not have been classified. For the latest court reports, sign up to our crime newsletter here
Phillip Tobias, of Oakhanger Lane, Quedgeley, Gloucestershire, had previously pleaded guilty to six counts of supplying unclassified pornographic films and 54 counts of possession of unclassified pornographic films with intent to supply - both contrary to the Video Recordings Act 1984 - and to two counts of being a trader engaged in unfair commercial practices when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has 13 previous convictions for 27 offences including unclassified pornographic DVD matters from Swindon Magistrates Court from 2008 for which he was fined. This earlier conviction also followed test purchases by a local council. John Allchurch, for Tobias, said the defendant was father-of-two and a hard-working family man.
Judge Huw Rees said the offending crossed the custody threshold but the sentence that was due was not one that would have to be served immediately. He told Tobias he had put in jeopardy his ability to provide for his family, and he warned him that were he to again return to offending of the sort before the court any judge hearing a future case would see he had been given a chance at Swansea Crown Court and had thrown it away. With a one-third discount for his guilty pleas Tobias was sentenced to 10 months in prison suspended for 12 months and was ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work and complete a rehabilitation course. The defendant was also ordered to pay £19,969 under a Proceeds of Crime Act order, and must pay prosecution costs of £5,523.
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