AN Ipswich businessman who sold fake goods at car boot sales has avoided jail.Limousine business owner Mark Beadsworth had bought hundreds of pairs of trainers which he believed were Nike brand and dozens of other sports goods he believed had genuine designer labels, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

AN Ipswich businessman who sold fake goods at car boot sales has avoided jail.

Limousine business owner Mark Beadsworth had bought hundreds of pairs of trainers which he believed were Nike brand and dozens of other sports goods he believed had genuine designer labels, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

However the majority of the goods were counterfeit and the 33-year-old leaded guilty to 13 charges of possessing goods with false trade marks.

Matthew Gowan prosecuting said Beadsworth was selling fake designer items on a trestle table at the Suffolk Showground when Trading Standards Officers made a test purchase of a pair of trainers and found them to be counterfeit.

Beadsworth's Century Drive home in Kesgrave and a storage container in Sir Alf Ramsey Way which was rented in his name, was searched and £44,000 worth of fake items were seized.

Mr Gowan said these included 267 pairs of Nike brand trainers, 44 Nike brand tracksuits, designer jeans and caps, Adidas and Lacoste tracksuits and various jackets and shirts.

He said Beadsworth now of Felix Way, Stowmarket told police he bought the £80 trainers for around £20 a pair in London and had sold them on at about £30 a pair.

Mr Gowan said: “When the defendant pleaded guilty it was on the basis that he failed to take steps that would mean he had a reasonable belief that the items were genuine.”

Lindsay Cox mitigating said: “The defendant has always maintained that he genuinely believed these items to be genuine and some of them were and were returned to him. Many were not.”

Mr Cox said his client had paid about £13,000 for the goods and had only made £1,700 in the few weeks he had been selling them before his arrest.

The court made a confiscation order stating that the benefit Beadsworth had profited by was £26,804 and the amount able to be raised by the sale of his assets, mainly cars, was that exact amount.

Mr Cox said: “The vehicles to be sold are the very basis of his business so if there is any other means of avoiding this then he will.”

Mr Cox said Beadsworth was a full-time contractor for Ipswich Borough Council and ran his limousine hire business at weekends.

Judge David Goodin sentenced Beadsworth to 12 months in prison but suspended the term for a year.

He made a condition of that order that Beadsworth must live in his rented accommodation in Stowmarket during the year.