Ed Sheeran and Little Mix fans 'targeted in £6.5m ticket fraud'

"Greed and dishonesty" motivated a ticket tout firm that "exploited" music lovers out of more than £6.5m, a court has been told.

TQ Tickets Ltd used multiple identities to buy tickets for artists such as Ed Sheeran and Little Mix, before selling them on secondary ticket sites, prosecutors said.

Mark Woods, 59, and Lynda Chenery, 51, of Dickleburgh, Norfolk, each deny three counts of fraudulent trading.

The pair's spouses admit the offences.

Jonathan Sandiford KC, prosecuting, told Leeds Crown Court the firm sold about £6.5m in tickets between June 2015 and December 2017 on sites such as Viagogo.

The firm bought 47,000 tickets during that period using 127 names and 187 different email addresses, he said.

"What this case is about is greed and dishonesty. The two defendants were ticket touts," he

"They were part of a dishonest scheme that, over a number of years, exploited the love and passion that many of us have for our favourite pop bands, our favourite artists - people like Ed Sheeran and so forth."

The jury was told the firm would speculatively list tickets for sale before they had sourced them, which sometimes led to fans being refused entry to venues.

The prosecutor explained how, using various members of staff including "corrupted" students, the firm made multiple applications for tickets, sometimes using fictional identities and a range of bank and debit cards.

Mr Sandiford referred to practices including "doing a fraudie", which involved sending customers ripped envelopes to infer that the tickets were lost-in-transit, or "using fraud juice", which involved the use of correcting fluid, or more sophisticated digital methods, to amend tickets.

The prosecutor told jurors how the firm was originally set up as a coach company and retained a "veneer" of legitimacy.

He said: "That was a very thin veneer. You didn't have to probe very deep into it to see that this was a dishonest business."

Jurors were told the defendants' partners Maria Chenery-Woods, who called herself Ticket Queen, and Paul Douglas, who referred to himself as Ticket Boy, had already admitted fraudulent trading.

Mr Sandiford said Chenery-Woods "was the driving force" but that the two accused were also part of the "dishonest enterprise".

The court was told, that in a message, Douglas told Chenery-Woods that the purpose of the business was to "simply rinse consumers for as much profit as they are willing to pay".

There was "no dispute that the fraudulent scheme exists", Mr Sandiford added.

Ms Chenery is also Chenery-Woods's sister.

The trial continues.

Follow East of England news on Facebook, external, Instagram, external and X, external. Got a story? Email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk, external or WhatsApp us on 0800 169 1830