A RHYL woman who sold fake Pandora jewellery has been handed a 12-month community sentence.

Hayley Faulkner was caught selling the jewellery onto a local shop as well as via online sites after a Denbighshire Trading Standards investigation.

Sentencing her Judge Timothy Petts told her: “You didn’t have permission to sell these items”.

Prosecutor Phillip Clemo said Faulkner used a web site, ‘Hayley’s Silver and Gold’ to market her products, many of which she claimed were items of jewellery made by Danish firm Pandora.

“Pandora only grants a licence in the UK to its subsidiaries and she is not affiliated to them,” said Mr Clemo.

“There was evidence that her sales on e-Bay between October 2014 and April 2016 totalled £5,723 although a proportion of those were legitimate products.”

When trading standards officer executed a search warrant at Beech Avenue in Rhyl, where Faulkner was operating from, they found a “set up similar to a shop”.

There were display cases containing 157 fake items.

Faulkner told officers that she bought her products from a seller in Ireland and thought they were cheap because she was getting them wholesale.

Faulkner, 42, of Maes Bryn, Rhyl admitted two counts of breaching trademark regulations in selling items described as Pandora which were not.

Simon Killeen, defending, said Faulkner had turned to her jewellery enterprise after losing her job and having sold some of her own Pandora items.

“She did not intend to pass off anything fake to anyone. Her real crime was not taking steps to see that she was authorised by this seller in Ireland,” said Mr Killeen.

“She has been a single mother for many years and has lost her house through county court judgements made against her.”

Faulkner was told to do 20 days of rehabilitation activities as part of her community sentence and pay £250 costs and a victim surcharge of £85.