TorrentFreak Pirate IPTV Man Back to Serve 5 Years Prison as Crimes Seem to Get Worse

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With almost no exceptions, people criminally prosecuted in the UK for serious pirate IPTV offenses say that it’s an absolutely horrendous experience.

The process drags on forever, often gets worse as it does so, and due to the Proceeds of Crime Act, doesn’t necessarily end when sentences are served. Reports of multi-year sentences are supposed to act as a deterrent, but only tell half the story.

When Liverpool man Mark Brockley fled the UK rather than face trial for reselling IPTV subscriptions in 2023, that wasn’t exactly a big surprise. Nor was it likely to end well.

The Social Media Curse​

According to the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) at City of London Police, their investigation was triggered by a November 2018 referral by BT Sport (now TNT).

The company had spotted a Twitter account with the username @Infinity_IPTV advertising £15 per month subscriptions, promising an all-you-can-eat bonanza of movies, TV shows and live sports.

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Eight months later on July 24, 2019, PIPCU officers raided Brockley’s Liverpool home, seizing devices including a laptop and a mobile phone, £1,200 in cash, and evidence linking the 54-year-old to the Twitter account reported by BT.

To avoid anything self-incriminating being used in evidence at trial, Brockley offered no comment throughout his interview. In June 2021 after two years in limbo, police arrested and then charged the Liverpool man with fraud and copyright offenses.

On the plus side, Brockley was released on bail but still had to wait almost two additional years before heading to trial. Four years from arrest to trial isn’t particularly uncommon in these types of cases; some describe the waiting as a sentence in itself.

You’ll Never Take Me Alive, Coppers​

How many times Brockley was absent is unclear, but after being bailed in 2021, PIPCU notes that multiple failures to appear in court led to the biggest of them all; a May 2023 criminal trial by jury conducted in Brockley’s absence.

Police believed Brockley had likely fled to France, but his exact whereabouts were unknown.

£237,000 is a considerable amount

By failing to appear at his own trial, Brockley avoided what was always likely to be a stressful experience, one with virtually no chance of success. However, a defendant not having their say in court can be damaging, mitigation may be the only hope left.

Five-Year Sentence​

Brockley was accused of being part of a “pyramid selling scheme” which saw him advertise subscriptions and sell them to individuals lower down. Published on the day of his sentencing, PIPCU’s calculations on the scale of the offending reads as follows:

The unit identified that Brockley had made 5,251 sales with a total value of £237,058 from 24 October 2014 to 8 May 2019. Of these, 1,408 sales, worth a total of £50,479, made a clear reference to IPTV services, but officers from PIPCU believe that the remaining payments were also related to the sale of these services.

The court heard that Brockley’s activities caused BT to lose an estimated £3m in revenue. The distinction between revenue on one hand, and profit on the other, can become less clear when presented in the media. Revenue takes no account of costs, so while BT reportedly ‘lost’ £3m, Brockley was said to have ‘made’ or ‘pocketed’ all of his £237K revenue.

In reality he made a non-specific amount of “tens of thousands” but as his solicitor pointed out at sentencing, Brockley’s failure to appear effectively destroyed any chance of a suspended sentence. The court handed down a five-year prison sentence; that raises the prospect of every £10,000 profit earning Brockley another year behind bars.

As an opportunity for deterrent messaging with impact, this may have been overlooked.

Ladies and Gentlemen: We Got Him​

In a statement this Wednesday, City of London Police revealed details of an operation to locate Brockley and bring him back to the UK to serve his sentence.

“Financial investigations revealed that Brockley had been using bank accounts based in France. Further digital inquiries eventually traced him to an apartment block in Spain. In August 2024, he was located and arrested in Girona during a coordinated operation involving the PIPCU, National Crime Agency (NCA), Europol, and Interpol,” the statement reads.

Brockley filed an appeal against his extradition back to the UK and was released on bail. Replicating his absences in the UK, he reportedly failed to appear at multiple court hearings in Spain, making him a wanted man there too.

“In a coordinated effort between UK and Spanish authorities, Brockley was eventually arrested at Barcelona Airport while attempting to board a flight to the UK last week (Friday, 20 June),” City of London Police report.

“He was remanded in custody at Heathrow Airport and will now commence his five-year sentence.”

Nature of Offending Becomes More Serious With Time​

A comparison of the police statements published on May 5, 2023, (immediately post sentencing) and this week on June 25, 2025, reveal differences that not only alter the nature of Brockley’s offending but also increase the amount of revenue generated.

The screenshots below show the 2025 statement on the left and the 2023 statement on the right, with relevant paragraphs from each placed side by side for clarity (originals here and here for reference).

Immediately after sentencing, it was reported that Brockley “made” £237,000. Yet, two years later, he’s reported as having “pocketed” £300,000.

Aside from the terminology implying significantly larger profits, an additional £63,000 has been added seemingly from nowhere in 2025.

During the past two years, Brockley’s status in the illicit IPTV market also appears to have undergone a promotion.

Immediately after sentencing, Brockley was described as an “IPTV reseller” who “sold subscriptions”. Yet two years later in his absence, it’s now alleged that he “ran a subscription-based IPTV service.” These aren’t just semantics; a person who sells tickets for Disneyland does not “run a Florida-based theme park.”

Strangely, even Brockley’s reseller brand has changed: Infinity Streams versus aFINITY IPTV today. The name change is cosmetic and may have a straightforward explanation; crucially it means very little in the context of the trial.

The previous discrepancies transform Brockley from a lower-tier player to the top man in his network, and then boost revenue by more than a quarter.

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A Call For Basic Transparency

Details like the above are important but not straightforward to verify independently.

Basic transparency and relevant court documents should be routinely made available to the public in the UK, at minimum when the reported outcome is a matter of public interest.

Piracy cases like these are part of the deterrent strategy in the UK; as a result, original documents should be made available publicly by default.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

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