A sex offender set up an online business selling counterfeit bank notes which he boasted were “easy to pass in shops”.
Timothy Ayres used his knowledge of the dark web – the part of the web that is invisible to most usual users – to buy and sell fake bank notes. When police raided his house in Swansea they recovered almost 300 counterfeit £20 notes and a wealth of online messages relating to his illicit currency business. Officers also found he had been buying cannabis from America and supplying it to users in the UK.
The defendant’s barrister said the 36-year-old had found it difficult to find legitimate employment following a previous conviction for child sex offences, and he had turned to other ways of making money.
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Swansea Crown Court heard that in September last year Tarian, the southern Wales regional serious and organised crime squad, received information about activity on the dark web involving counterfeit currency. The investigation led to Ayres’ home address, and when officers went to his house they uncovered 295 fake £20 notes. The court heard the defendant told officers it was “proper money” and claimed it was legal and was “for the movies”. Police seized and accessed a large number of electronic devices, and on Ayres’ Samsung phone they found a Tor browser for accessing the dark web.
The prosecutor said it emerged Ayres was running a website advertising counterfeit currency for sale with a price list ranging from £99 for £360-worth of fake £20 notes up to £2,500 for £7,900-worth of forged twenties. In messages to potential customers on the Telegram encrypted messaging app the defendant boasted about the quality of the notes he was selling, saying they were “very close to the real thing” and “easy to pass in shops”. The prosecutor said officers also found the defendant was offering to sell hacked PayPal accounts, though there were no charges before the court in relation to that matter.
The court heard Ayres was also involved in importing cannabis from a supplier in America and the “wholesale supply” of that drug to users in the UK. In exchanges with his supplier in the US Ayres requested particular strains of cannabis, discussed minimum orders of a kilo at a time, and asked the sender to disguise the labelling so as to avoid the attentions of customers officers. During the search of the defendant’s house officers uncovered a little under 50g of cannabis. The court heard officers also found one exchange of Telegram message from July last year in which Ayres discussed supplying an ounce of flake – cocaine – for £1,100 though there was no evidence any such transaction had actually taken place.
Mr Wright said it was clear from messages and emails recovered during the investigation that Ayres was accepting payments for both the counterfeit currency and the cannabis by bank transfers or in the Bitcoin crypto-currency.
Timothy James Ayres, of Cil-y-Coed, Waunarlwydd, Swansea, and previously pleaded guilty to three offences under the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981 and the Fraud Act 2006 relating to the fake bank notes, possession of cannabis with intent to supply, an importation of cannabis offence, and being concerned in the supply of cocaine when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. The cocaine plea was on the basis that he never actually had any cocaine to supply.
The defendant has a previous conviction from 2020 for causing a child to under 13 to engage in sexual activity, offending for which he was sent to prison and was made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order. The court heard that by accessing the dark web Ayres was in breach of that court order but he has already been dealt with for that matter.
Jon Tarrant, for Ayres, said the defendant was a “lonely, quiet, reserved character” and that following his previous conviction he had found it difficult to find work and had turned to the offending before the court to make money. He said the defendant was in considerable debt and there was no evidence of any kind riches or of extravagant life.
Judge Geraint Walters told the defendant he had used his knowledge of the online world and dark web to trade in drugs and counterfeit currency. He said Ayres’ offending had been “sophisticated and planned” and he noted the defendant had been bragging about the quality of the notes and cannabis he was selling. The judge said the Court of Appeal had made it clear that in all but the most exceptional of circumstances, those who distribute counterfeit currency must expect immediate custody.
With discounts for his guilty pleas Ayres was sentenced to 18 months in prison for the currency offences and to two-and-a-half years for drug offences to run consecutively, making an overall sentence of four years in prison. The defendant will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
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