Jury sent out in Norfolk ticket touting trial
Lynda Chenery and Mark Woods are on trial in relation to their involvement with Norfolk-based TQ Tickets Ltd.
A jury has gone out to consider its verdicts in the case of two people accused of fraudulent trading in relation to a ticket touting company.
Lynda Chenery and Mark Woods are on trial in relation to their involvement with Norfolk-based TQ Tickets Ltd, which sold tickets worth more than £6.5 million on secondary ticketing sites in two-and-a-half years, Leeds Crown Court has heard.
The jury has heard that the company used multiple identities, some of which were fake, to buy large numbers of tickets for artists such as Ed Sheeran and Little Mix on primary sites, including Ticketmaster, before re-selling them on secondary ticketing platforms such as Viagogo.
The company was run by Maria Chenery-Woods, who is Woods' wife and Chenery's sister.
Prosecutors have said that Chenery-Woods, who referred to herself as the Ticket Queen, was the driving force behind TQ Tickets.
She and Paul Douglas have pleaded guilty to fraudulent trading.
But Woods and Chenery, who was married to Douglas at the time of the alleged offences, deny the charges.
Prosecutors have said TQ Tickets was motivated by "greed and dishonesty" when it "exploited the love and passion" of music lovers.
Woods told the court he believed there was "nothing untoward" about his wife's business.
He said TQ Tickets was an "obsession" for her, telling jurors: "She became completely obsessed. It took priority over me, the family, and it caused conflict."
Chenery said she did some book-keeping work for her sister's firm but did not think TQ Tickets was involved in any kind of fraud.
She said she became company secretary after being asked by her sister, but this did not involve performing any duties.
Chenery, 51, and Woods, 59, both of Dickleburgh, near Diss, Norfolk, deny three counts of fraudulent trading.
The jury was sent out to consider its verdicts by Judge Simon Batiste on Monday morning.