Raid catches pirate radio teen

4:32pm Thursday 15th May 2008

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A Rowley Regis teenager who supplied music to a pirate radio station has been ordered to pay costs of £1,000.

Leighton Cooper, of St Giles Close, was one of four men arrested on October 11 when police and Ofcom officers raided a flat in Dudley used as a base to broadcast pirate station KRISS FM.

The 19-year-old was questioned by officers at the scene and admitted taking a memory stick to the property which contained music intended for broadcast on the station.

Lester Moddrell, prosecuting on behalf of Ofcom, told Dudley Magistrates Court on Thursday how the flat on Hill Street contained mixers, studio equipment and a "whole set up for running a pirate radio station."

The court heard how the entrance to the property was watched by CCTV cameras to forewarn anyone broadcasting of raids.

Mr Moddrell said KRISS FM had been since 1998 and had attracted a large number of complaints from BBC Radio WM.

He added: "There have been a number of raids over the years on the station.

"The men caught in this raid can very much be described as the foot soldiers of the operation."

Cooper pleaded guilty to supplying unauthorised sound for broadcasting and was given a one year conditional discharge in additon to the costs charge.

Jamie Price, of Tansley Hill Avenue, Dudley, was also arrested in the raid and pleaded guilty to an additional charge of using wireless technology for making a broadcast after he admitted acting as a DJ at the station during the week before the raid.

The 19-year-old was ordered to pay costs of £1,200 and given an 18 month conditional discharge.

Shabeer Qureshi, defending, said both men became aware of the station after listening on the radio, but were not aware at first it was a pirate station.

He said: "They were not the ringleaders and they were not the driving force of KRISS FM.

"The events of that evening have put the fear of God into them - they never realised the situation they were getting themselves into.

"They realise how foolish they have been and how silly they have been."