Stephen Woodward ran a service that provided illegal access to over 4,500 channels
Stephen Woodword(Image: StokeSentinel)
A man has been jailed for his role in a £1 million illegal TV streaming operation.
Stephen Woodward sold illegal access to copyrighted material, including Sky Sports and BT Sports, spending the proceeds on holidays, designer clothes, and a £91,000 Jaguar F-Type V8.
Woodward, 36, used the websites IPTV Hosting, Helix Hosting, and Black and White to provide illegal access to the channels, and would sell subscriptions via card payments, StokeonTrentLive reports.
The payments would be received through 13 different PayPal accounts owned by Woodward, as well as payment services such as Circle.
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After receiving the payment he would convert the money into Cryptocurrency and then back into regular currency before depositing it in 23 banks accounts.
Woodward was arrested in November 2019 and would plead guilty to distributing articles infringing copyright as well as four money laundering offences. He was sentenced to three years and one month in jail.
His younger brother Christopher Woodward, 34, received £126,000 as a result of the operation, and was himself sentenced to 15 months in jail suspended for 12 months as well 240 hours of unpaid work after pleading guilty to money laundering.
In addition to their prison sentences, police investigating the operation also secured an all-assets restraint order over some £1.1 million held by the elder Woodward brother. Some £144,121 worth of cash was also seized from him in the investigation, and this was frozen.
Arrest came after police stormed home
Upon his arrest, police searched Stephen Woodward’s home, seizing a computer, a hard drive, nine phones, and £4,760 in cash which was found in a desk drawer.
Officers also seized around 100 envelopes which each contained a SIM card that had a name written on it
These SIM cards had been used by the elder Woodward to open PayPal and bank accounts under false identities which he had purchased online.
Stephen Woodward was released under investigation as police continued their enquiries.
Analysis of his phone would reveal that he had been communicating with a number of companies in order to help run the website IPTV Hosting.
And, in messages to Christopher Woodward, Stephen Woodward claimed that he was making some £100,00 a month through his illegal streaming.
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Officers were still investigating IPTV Hosting in 2020 when the Federation Against Copyright Theft, FACT, alerted them that Stephen Woodward was now running two more illegal streaming sites – Helix Hosting and Black and White TV.
These websites would give subscribers illegal access to Premier League games and more than 6,500 channels from around the globe.
In July 2020 police once again arrested Stephen Woodward, who told officers that “the cash is in the same place as last time” as they searched his address.
This time, officers found some £28,600 in cash, and he was again released under investigation.
Finally, in October 2022 Border Force officers at Gatwick detained Stephen Woodward as he was trying to board a flight to Vancouver. and seized £10,870 in cash from his luggage which was then added into the investigation.
All three websites connected with the operation are no longer running.
Confiscation proceedings will now begin against both these funds and jewellery which police seized from Stephen Woodward’s address.
‘These crimes contributes to 80,000 job losses each year’
Detective Constable Daryl Fryatt said: “Illegal streaming weakens the creative industries by diverting money away from legitimate businesses and into the hands of criminals like Stephen Woodward.
“Lost revenue as a result of illegal streaming means fewer jobs and less investment in future opportunities. It’s estimated that this criminal activity contributes to over 80,000 job losses each year alone.
“Stephen was brazen in running his illegal steaming websites. Despite being the subject of a criminal investigation, he had clearly not learned his lesson and yet again attempted to gain financially from his illegal activity.
“His sentencing and upcoming confiscation proceedings should send a message that there are significant consequences for criminals who enable illegal access to copyrighted content.”