A greedy tout known as the Ticket Queen has been ordered to pay back £1million within three months or have her four-year jail term doubled.
Maria Chenery-Woods, 56, was locked up last year for the multi-million-pound scam in which she and her 61-year-old husband Mark Woods used the names of dead relatives and children to buy tickets to live events on an ‘industrial scale’.
The fraudsters then resold them on websites at hugely inflated prices to fans desperate to go to events.
Woods, who received a two-year suspended sentence and was told to complete 250 hours of unpaid work for his role, has been warned to hand over £1.9million by April or he will be put behind bars for seven years and six months.
Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Organised Crime Unit (YHROCU), which brought the Proceeds of Crime Act case at Leeds Crown Court last week, said the pair made a total of £9,815,351 from the shameful scheme which ‘must be repaid in full’ eventually.
Chenery-Woods, who was ordered to stump up £995,278 by spring, is liable for a total of £7,842,799 of the identified profits.
The couple, of Dickleburgh, Norfolk, used the false names to buy tickets through reputable sites such as Ticketmaster, Eventim and SEE Tickets.
They then sold them on via secondary websites including Viagogo, Seatwave and Stubhub to make vast profits.
Maria Chenery-Woods, 56, known as the ‘Ticket Queen’, ran a multimillion-pound business buying and selling tickets has been jailed for four years. Her husband Mark Woods, 61, was also part of the scam
Enjoying a night out together: Maria Chenery-Woods, 56, (circled in the reflection) with her TV producer daughter, Paige, pictured left, and her partner Mark Woods, 61, right
The family resold the tickets they bought fraudulently on secondary ticketing websites such as Viagogo, Seatwave, Stubhub and Getmein for big profits
The scam fuelled a luxury lifestyle which included exotic holidays and trips to the champagne bar at Harvey Nichols.
Chenery-Woods and employee Paul Douglas, 58, of Pulham Market, Norfolk, who was jailed for two years and five months, both admitted fraudulent trading through Norfolk-based TQ Tickets last year.
Woods and Chenery-Woods’ sister Lynda Chenery, 53, also of Dickleburgh, who received a 21-month suspended sentence and 180 hours of unpaid work, were convicted by a jury.
The landmark trial heard that the company had bought 47,000 gig passes between June 2015 and December 2017.
Chenery-Woods had used over 120 identities and 187 email addresses to get around purchasing limits.
Her TV producer daughter Paige, 27, was encouraged to apply for multiple cards, the court heard.
Lynda Chenery’s son Jack, 27, was also used to buy tickets and friends were persuaded to join in the operation – taking a cut for themselves.
They provided their details or bought tickets to be resold and received a share of the profits. Hampers and gift vouchers were used as inducements.
Mother-of-three Chenery-Woods and her team ran the multi-million pound business from the home she shared with partner Mark Woods in the village of Dickleburgh, Norfolk
Chenery-Woods’ sister, Lynda Chenery, 53, was officially company secretary and Paul Douglas was ‘Ticket Boy’ or the second in command
Douglas, who was given a prison sentence of two years and five months, enjoys a beer in the sunshine
Tickets brought in massive profits, including two £47 tickets for the Last Night of the Proms at the Albert Hall in London which were sold for a total of £924.
Two £80 tickets for an Anthony Joshua versus Wladimir Klitschko boxing fight each sold for £418.
And passes to the stalls at the Harry Potter play in London’s West End brought in £725 each – a markup of over 500 per cent.
The piles of tickets found by trading standards investigators in the company office included tickets to a 2017 Lady Gaga concern in Birmingham, the Sports Personality of the Year event in Liverpool in the same year, a Michael Ball and Alfie Boe concert and a Pete Tong event in Manchester.
Sentencing those involved, Judge Simon Batiste said the firm ‘created a web of criminality’ which also ‘corrupted’ students and other young people into buying tickets for them.
‘What was being done was purely to maximise profit and out of greed,’ he said.
‘Your aim was to rinse or fleece customers out of as much money as you could.’
Speaking after the Proceeds of Crime Act hearing, Detective Chief Inspector Jon Hodgeon, YHROCU’s head of economic and cybercrime, said: ‘Following their sentencing, our financial investigators stepped in and conducted a detailed analysis of the money made by Woods and Chenery-Woods.
‘It found that, together, they benefited to the tune of many millions of pounds.
‘This was all done by using dishonest tactics to exploit people, so I am pleased that they have now been ordered to repay this money or face more jail time.
‘The YHROCU will relentlessly pursue offenders using all available powers.’
Mike Andrews, the national coordinator for the National Trading Standards eCrime Team, added: ‘The husband and wife duo behind this fraud deliberately exploited fans’ trust and passion for live events – particularly live music concerts – to line their pockets to the tune of £10 million.
‘Today’s ruling is good news for fans and shows that crime does not pay, as the criminals must pay back the vast profits they generated illegally while they continue to face time behind bars.’
In November, it emerged the Government was planning to make it illegal to resell tickets to concerts and other live events including sport, theatre, and comedy above their original cost.
The move followed a campaign against the practice by major artists including Dua Lipa and Radiohead.
