On July 11, 2025, a suspect was jailed after conviction for selling illegal access to copyrighted content through the websites IPTV Hosting, Helix Hosting and Black and White TV. The three Web sites are no longer in operation.
This case was investigated by the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) at City of London Police. It was the second anti-piracy action announced by PIPCU in the same week, and the third in a one month period.
IPTV Hosting advertised itself as the first IPTV provider with more than 4,500 channels. It provided illegal access to TV channels, including Sky Sports and BT Sports, to end users and resellers for a fee.
Police investigation found that subscriptions were paid for via card payments via peer-to-peer payment services such as Circle and 13 PayPal accounts. Money was converted into cryptocurrency, back to flat currency and then deposited across 23 bank accounts, in order to disguise the origin of funds.
The primary suspect pocketed £1 million and used the funds to buy luxury items. His brother received £126,000 derived from the sales of the illegal streaming websites.
Sentencing details
Primary suspect Stephen Woodward of Thirsk was sentenced to three years and one month in prison. He had pleaded guilty at York Crown Court in February 2025 for distributing articles infringing copyright and four money laundering offenses.
His brother Christopher Woodward, also of Thirsk, was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, and must also complete 240 hours of unpaid work. He pleaded guilty at the same court on February 21 2025 to money laundering.
Case history
Officers from PIPCU arrested Stephen in November 2019 and searched his home address. They seized a computer, hard drive and nine phones, as well as £4,760 in cash found in a desk drawer in his living room.
Around 100 envelopes, each containing a SIM card with a name written on it, were also seized. Stephen used the SIM cards to help open PayPal and bank accounts using false identities he had bought online.
Stephen was released while enquiries continued.
Further investigation
PIPCU’s analysis of Stephen’s phone uncovered evidence to show that he had been in communication with various companies to assist with the running of IPTV Hosting.
In his messages to Christopher, Stephen said that he was making £100,000 a month through illegal streaming. Stephen used the funds to buy designer jewellery and clothes, holidays and a Jaguar F-Type V8 coupe worth £91,000.
In 2020, while the investigation into IPTV Hosting was underway, officers were alerted by the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) that Stephen had started running two further illegal streaming websites, Black and White TV and Helix Hosting. The websites provided illegal access to watch Premier League matches, as well as over 6,500 channels from around the world.
Officers from PIPCU arrested Stephen for the second time and searched his home address in July 2020. He told officers that “the cash is in the same place as last time”, referring to the desk drawer in his living room, from which around £28,600 in cash was seized. He was again released under investigation.
Asset seizures and flight risk
PIPCU’s investigators secured an all-assets restraint order against a total of £1.1 million held in 15 bank accounts and 21 cryptocurrency wallets owned by Stephen. A further £144,121 worth of cash, which was seized from Stephen during the investigation, was also frozen.
This includes £22,150 in cash that was seized in November 2020. Stephen was arrested by British Transport Police (BTP) at Kings Cross station on suspicion of money laundering, after a staff member at Thirsk station saw him place a carrier bag behind a grit bin and then board a train to London. The staff member checked the contents of the bag and, upon finding it contained £20,000, alerted BTP.
BTP officers searched Stephen’s address later that day and seized an envelope containing £1,770 in cash hidden in the loft. They seized a further £380 from Stephen.
In October 2022, Stephen was detained by Border Force officers at Gatwick whilst attempting to board a flight to Vancouver. Three bundles of cash, worth a total of £10,870, were seized from his luggage.
The cash seized by BTP and Border Force officers was incorporated into PIPCU’s investigation.
Further reading
Man jailed for running £1 million illegal streaming operation. Press release. July 11, 2025. The Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) of the City of London Police
Why it matters
PIPCU’s Detective Constable Daryl Fryatt commented that “Stephen was brazen in running his illegal steaming websites. Despite being the subject of a criminal investigation, he had clearly not learned his lesson and yet again attempted to gain financially from his illegal activity.”
PIPCU has applied for a Serious Crime Prevention Order (SCPO) against Stephen. The SCPO means that he will be subject to a number of restrictions once released from prison, to prevent him from committing further offences.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) estimates that at least 86,300 jobs were lost in the UK in 2016 due to counterfeiting and piracy.
“(Stephen Woodward’s) sentencing and upcoming confiscation proceedings should send a message that there are significant consequences for criminals who enable illegal access to copyrighted content,” continued PIPCU’s Fryatt.
