THREE men who were among a team that netted tens of thousands of pounds by selling fake designer clothes on internet marketplace eBay have been jailed.

Anthony Kaufman, 48, from Bury - the mastermind behind the money-making scam - has been sent down for 27 months and will also serve an extra 12 months behind bars for breach of an earlier suspended sentence for blackmail.

Gregg Baines, 24, from Latchford, who acted as one of the team's sales managers, was jailed for 12 months.

Mark Glover, 24, from Maitland Avenue, Chorlton, who played a lesser role within the organisation, was jailed for nine months.

Who else has been locked up in November? Sentences and photo gallery

A fourth man - Paul Miller, 25, from Darlington, who worked within the group for only a matter of weeks - was ordered to serve 150 hours' unpaid work within the community.

All four men had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to sell fake designer clothes bearing the logos of famous makers, and to acquire and transfer criminal property.

Sentencing them at Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court Judge Jonathan Geake told them: "Dealing in counterfeit goods is, in effect, stealing from genuine owners.

"There are legitimate commercial businesses which invest substantial sums of money to develop and market high-quality products. These same businesses are significant employers, and they are entitled to the protection of the law."

In passing sentence the judge said he wanted to commend all those involved in bringing the prosecution, for the hard work they had put in.

Sentencing Kaufman, he said: "This was not just a modest and amateurish operation, but a quite sophisticated venture which saw a turnover of around a quarter of a million pounds.

"You were the ringleader. You sourced goods, acquired sales teams, and had access to all or most of the accounts. You also arranged storage facilities, were responsible for despatch, and even knew how to minimise complaints."

The massive scam was cracked by Salford Trading Standards after Kaufman had unwittingly sold a fake Stone Island jacket to a buyer who worked for the real company. He alerted Trading Standards - which led to a two-year investigation costing £200,000.

Tens of thousands of pounds of bogus clothing was sold on eBay, and the court had been told that goods worth £470,000 were seized from storage units in both Bury and Salford.

Kaufman was seen posting out ordered clothing from post offices at Parr Lane and Brandlesholme Road near to his home in Bury, and was later linked to the storage facilities where the bogus goods were kept.

Joe Murphy, the Salford councillor with responsibility for Trading Standards, said: "These traders earned big money by cheating customers into buying fake goods and it's our job to help protect innocent people against bogus traders.

"Our officers put in a lot of hard work to break this ring of counterfeit traders which has paid off with excellent results and it's a strong message to other traders that we are successful in what we do and will not tolerate illegal trading of any kind."

Who else has been locked up in November? Sentences and photo gallery