MORE than 400 counterfeit compact discs with a retail value of almost £13,000 were seized during a raid by Trading Standards officers and police, a court heard.

Paul Moore, of Thursby Square, Burnley, pleaded guilty at Reedley magistrates court to manufacturing 235 counterfeit Sony PlayStation CDs and selling them, as well as manufacturing four recordable CDs containing the Pink Floyd emblem and using computer equipment to design and adapt the Playstation logo for the production of goods.

Nicholas McNamara, a trading standards officer at Lancashire County Council, told the court how officers from the department and police discovered the CDs and CD writing equipment during a raid on Moore's home on February 10, 1999.

Mr McNamara said Moore, 36, had been making the CDs for four to five months and was selling between 12 and 15 titles a week.

He said he could make them for £1.50 and sell them for £5, making him an income of £70 a week. Mr McNamara said the officers first went to Moore's work place, Flexipol Packaging Ltd, in Haslingden, and found a PlayStation CD and a list of music artists and titles in his locker.

Moore was arrested and cautioned.

And when police searched his house they seized 235 PlayStation CDs, 134 computer CDs and 114 music CDs from a converted attic room.

They also removed order forms for music and computer titles, and equipment for producing compact discs, including blank CDs, original CDs, labelling and packaging and copying equipment.

Mr McNamara told the court that going off typical prices for computer and music CDs the lot would have an approximate retail value of £12, 900.

He said: "It shows the potential loss to genuine manufacturers and traders."

The case was adjourned until March 15 in Burnley, for pre-sentence reports.

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