A UK eBay scammer has been jailed for flogging £46,000 of counterfeit software on the world's favourite online tat bazaar.

John Mark Humphries, 41, of West Ewell, Surrey, operated a home CD burning factory to produce counterfeit Microsoft, Symantec, and Sage software over two and a half years.

He was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment at Croydon Crown Court on Wednesday for offences under the Trade Marks Act and Theft Act.

Humphries was caught by a Sutton Trading Standards investigation, which found him selling fake software under the user name "harry_houdini0_0" as part of a routine sweep of the site in May 2006.

It was later discovered he had registered 12 eBay accounts to punt the knock-offs, using innocent people's details to hide his own identity. ®