Shropshire Star

Five men, including one from Shropshire, who ran a business selling pornographic DVDs and videos in the UK, are starting jail terms totalling more than 10 years.

Detectives today said the operation - run from Belgium - netted nearly £2 million between 2005 and 2007.

Judge Charles Gratwicke described the material as “revolting and disgusting” as he handed down sentences, following a hearing at Chelmsford Crown Court.

Malcolm Winter, 50, of Knighton Road, Clun, one of the operation’s cashiers, was jailed for 21 months.

Unemployed George Buchanan, 60, who ran the operation from his home in Blanenberge, Belgium, was given a seven-year term.

The judge said Buchanan, who previously lived in St Osyth, Essex, and was extradited from Belgium after fleeing, was the “central figure”.

Unemployed John Dormer, 56, of Bow, east London, who copied and distributed DVDs and tapes, was given a 12-month term.

Printer Stephen Fisher, 50, of Hornchurch, Essex, printed brochures advertising DVDs and was given an 18-month term.

Michael Fowler, 52, of Attleborough, Norfolk, another cashier, also received a 21-month term.

All five admitted conspiring to supply obscene material and conspiring to launder money. Arrests followed a lengthy operation by the Metropolitan Police’s obscene publications unit.

None of the DVDs or tapes featured children.

DC Lawrie Day, vice of the financial investigation unit, said: “The supply of this material increases exploitation of women who are often victims of human trafficking.”