A LYMM couple have been jailed after admitting making up to £300,000 by selling fake ID cards around the world.

Adrian Holmes, aged 32, and Lucy Sanders, age 28, both of Lymmington Avenue, sold bogus driving licences, permits and counterfeit UK and international identity cards to underage teenagers who could then use them to drink and drive illegally.

The lovers pleaded guilty to a joint charge of conspiracy to supply cards for use in connection with fraud when they appeared at Chester Crown Court on Monday.

Peter Moss, prosecuting, said Holmes was the brains behind the business, designing the cards and the website uwantid.co.uk.

Sanders made the fake PVC permits, which were highly sophisticated and featured holograms and embedded chips, and the duo then sold them for £20 each.

All customers needed to do was email their photograph, date of birth, signature and send payment to a Wilmslow mailbox.

The internet site described the duo as “market leaders in their field” and boasted testimonials from underage drinkers hailing the “absolutely fantastic” cards that “never failed”.

Mr Moss said: “They couldn’t care less what use any of the products were put to.

“It is quite clear they knew some of their customers were using these cards for illicit purposes, whatever they may be.”

The court heard that the cards were sold to customers living as far afield as Japan, Canada and the United Arab Emirates.

A loophole in the law had appeared to allow businesses to offer ID for ‘novelty’ purposes if they ran a disclaimer.

However, licensees and community support officers in Widnes were handed batches of cards confiscated by door staff and following complaints from concerned parents Cheshire Trading Standards began an 18-month investigation, culminating in this prosecution – the first of its kind.

Trading standards officers and police raided the couple’s home in April 2008.

Documents were found that showed the couple had £165,000 in one bank account and could make up to 40 fake cards a day.

When interviewed by police Sanders said she was unaware what the cards were used for.

Holmes told officers he had not read the testimonials of customers before he put them on his website and that he was “very shocked” the cards were being used in this way.

However, Mr Moss described as the “height of cheek” the fact that some of the driving licences bore a Latin inscription on the back in a watermark which translated as ‘You drive me mad, you are totally stupid’.

Hunter Gray, defending Holmes, said his client now accepted it was obvious from the feedback on the website what the cards were being used for but said that his actions were ‘reckless’, not ‘deliberate’.

Karen Smith, defending Sanders, said her client was an “inherently honest person” who played a secondary role in the crime.

Sentencing Holmes to two years in jail and Sanders 12 months, Judge Elgan Edwards, the Recorder of Chester, described the business as “a novel and highly successful enterprise”.

He said: “This business effectively drove a coach and horses through the area of control of youthful drinking and access to nightclubs and there was always a danger of even more serious misuse.”

Sanders began to cry as the verdict was read out and the guilty couple shared an embrace and kiss before they were led out of the dock.

An assets hearing for Holmes and Sanders will be held in July.

Speaking after the case, Vanessa Griffiths, Cheshire West trading standards manager, said officers were pleased with the “deterrent sentences”.

She said: “We very much hope that it will serve as a deterrent for those who are currently operating similar businesses or who are thinking of setting up similar businesses.”

Ms Griffiths said other investigations are ongoing and more prosecutions are expected to follow across the country.