Norfolk honey fraudsters sentenced at last

Long after the predicted sentencing date, the Norfolk honey who fraudulently labelled foreign honey as Norfolk honey have been fined £8,000 and ordered to pay £90,000 costs.

They were found guilty of 12 counts of obtaining property by deception following a three-week trial at King's Lynn Crown Court in December last year.

A further 12 charges of making a false description of food were ordered to lie on the file.

Sentencing the couple yesterday at Norwich Crown Court, Judge Alasdair Darroch said: “This was a lengthy and persistent deception involving a number of wholly innocent traders who were selling honey which was not of the quality demanded.

“I have no doubt that this was an entirely dishonest activity, although there was some legitimate honey production.

“I have already indicated it is not necessary to send you to prison and I am not going to do so.”

He added: “I consider you were dishonest. You consider yourselves the victims, which you most decidedly were not.”