A COUPLE have been fined almost £7,000 for screening football matches illegally at their pub.

Eric and Janet Ashton displayed Sky Sports games on televisions at the Rose and Crown in Bolton Road, Westhoughton, without having a proper commercial subscription package.

Inspectors caught them out on March 22, April 4, April 18, May 3 and May 9.

The couple were prosecuted by the Federation Against Copyright Theft but did not attend their trial at Bolton Magistrates' Court.

The Ashtons were each convicted in their absence of five counts of receiving a programme included in a broadcasting service provided from a place in the United Kingdom with intent to avoid payment of the charge applicable to the reception of that programme.

Magistrates fined them each £2,250 for the latest offence and issued no separate penalty for the other four offences.

Both the Ashtons must pay a victim surcharge of £225, court costs of £761 and a criminal courts charge of £150.

In total the couple owe £6,772.

Stephen Gerrard, prosecuting manager at FACT said: "This case clearly shows that if a licensee shows Sky broadcasts in their premises by any other means than a Sky commercial viewing agreement they will be prosecuted.

"If convicted they can receive an unlimited fine and should expect to pay substantial legal costs.

"Additionally they risk having their Personal Licence suspended or revoked."

The case comes five weeks after Mr Ashton was cleared in a Bolton Crown Court trial of causing grievous bodily harm to drinker Julian Large.

Mr Large suffered a broken pelvis and wrist after tumbling down the entrance steps to the pub on September 14 last year.

Mr Ashton had denied the offence and said he acted in self-defence.

Earlier this year The Barnstormers in Lostock Lane, Lostock, agreed to pay the highest sum of any of the 13 pubs caught breaching copyright of Premier League.

It was part of the first wave of a crackdown on unauthorised football match broadcasts for the 2015/16 season.

The pub reached a voluntary settlement with the Premier League to pay costs of £16,937 after the landlord conceded he hooked up a Virgin Media box in the flat upstairs to the bar downstairs to show the BT Sport channel.