No bank card for convicted movie pirate on release

DVD pirate and fraudster John Mansfield Houston will not even be allowed a bank card when he is released from prison.

The 42-year-old was yesterday jailed for two years on 21 charges, including accessing a computer for dishonest purposes, and possessing and selling illegal copies of copyrighted works.

Judge David Harvey imposed post-release conditions that, among other things, prohibit Houston from owning or using any computer equipment, having an internet connection, visiting internet cafes - even using cash machines.

The judge ordered Houston to pay $5000 in reparation to the Federation Against Copyright Theft (Fact).

Houston was first arrested in 2004, after an Internal Affairs inspector saw him selling copies of pirated DVDs at the Avondale Market. A subsequent raid of his Howick home uncovered what prosecutors described as "a movie-making factory".

More than 280 movies were found on the hard drive of his PC, with "countless" blank DVDs, printing and packaging material. Diary entries made reference to the sale of at least 3100 pirated movies, which investigators valued at more than $77,000.

His home was raided again last November, when police found 10 linked PC hard-drives and pirated DVDs in the process of being copied.

Spreadsheets containing a list of 606 movie titles were also discovered, along with more packaging material.

At the time of the second raid, Houston, who pleaded guilty to the charges before trial, was on bail for the 2004 offending.

Houston yesterday asked Judge Harvey to defer his prison term while he waited for a home detention hearing, as his imprisonment would put his family in "economic peril", but the application was refused.

He was, however, granted leave to apply for home detention and will be eligible for parole after completing half his sentence.

After the sentencing, Houston's lawyer, Charl Hirshfeld, described Judge Harvey's decision to deny Houston the use of a cash machine card as "unusual", but appropriate given the nature of the crime.

He said Judge Harvey was one of New Zealand's most experienced judges in the field of computer and electronic crime.

Fact spokesman Tony Eaton said Houston had sold thousands of pirated videos and was thought to have made around $150,000 a year for the past five years.