South Gloucestershire father and son jailed for hand sanitiser fraud
They offered a product described as being 'useless' at the height of the Covid pandemic
Last updated 10th Apr 2024
A father and son from South Gloucestershire have been jailed for supplying fake hand sanitiser during the Covid pandemic, described as 'useless' by an expert.
69-year-old William Irving and 35-year-old Alexander Irving ran a business from Woodlands Farm near Berkeley offering up their product, Shield Hand Sanitiser, for £10 per 100ml bottle at the start of the first Covid lockdown in March 2020.
The product claimed to have an alcohol content of 70% and promised to kill 99.9% of germs, including coronavirus.
In reality, samples analysed by experts were found to have just 14.69% alcohol content at most - with some bottles containing as little as 1%.
South Gloucestershire Trading Standards teams began to receive complaints from businesses and customers, complaining that the product was fake and did not smell of alcohol.
Trading standards raided the premises of ACL in July 2020 with Police and secured further evidence of offending by the Irvings which showed that during just two weeks in March 2020 they made minimum sales of 24,515 bottles of Shield Hand Sanitiser, generating an income of approximately £95,000 plus unquantifiable cash sales.
Customers were contacted and over 1,300 bottles of the product were removed from sale.
Suspicions were further aroused after the Irvings knew Trading Standards were investigating them, when one retailer reported successfully cancelling a payment of £9,600 made to ACL for an order of 2,000 bottles of Shield Hand Sanitiser. The order had been delivered to him but no one ever pursued the money or even the return of the 2,000 bottles.
Professor Primrose Freestone, Associate Professor in Clinical Microbiology at the University of Leicester, analysed the bottles and concluded "the combined alcohol levels (ethanol and propanol) in all of the samples are too low to be effective as an antimicrobial agent against either bacteria or viruses."
She further stated that the product "would be useless as a hand sanitiser and should never have been marketed as such."
During the course of the investigation William Irving even tried to convince Trading Standards that the Shield Hand Sanitiser had been produced by an unidentified individual who had rented a unit from him at his premises but had left it there, so he simply decided to sell it all.
Both William and Alexander Irving initially pleaded guilty to fraudulent trading at Bristol Crown Court, but then subsequently applied to have their pleas withdrawn, saying they were under pressure to plead guilty. Both applications failed.
Appearing at the same court for sentencing on Tuesday (April 9th), the pair, both of Woodend Hill in Lane, were both jailed for two years and two months.
In sentencing yesterday, judge HHJ Cullum said it was necessary for him to re-visit the time of lockdown in 2020 when there was widespread fear of death and serious illness and hygiene and social distancing were part of everyday developing government instructions.
He said the Irvings clearly knew the product was not what it purported to be but persisted in "preying on public fears of an unprecedented national emergency."
He further noted that William Irving in particular knew of the importance of proper labelling and honesty regarding the products he sold, but concluded that "lying might be said to be your natural bedfellow."
The pair will now be also be dealt with under the Proceeds of Crime Act at a later hearing on 1 July 2024.
Shaun Fudge, service manager for Trading Standards at South Gloucestershire Council, said:
"William and Alexander Irving have been imprisoned for a large-scale fraud which deceived the public at a time of national crisis.
"They blatantly profiteered from a ‘useless’ product that was sold at a premium price due to unprecedented demand for hand sanitisers.
"The importance of this case in bringing such actions to justice cannot be over-stated."