Ed Sheeran ticket tout fraudsters ordered to pay back £3million or face jail

A couple found guilty of a multi-million-pound ticket touting fraud operation have been ordered to pay back £3million within three months, or face jail.

• READ MORE: The UK ban on secondary ticketing explained by Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy: “Time is up for ticket touts”

Maria Chenery-Woods and her husband Mark Woods ran TQ Tickets Limited, which used over 100 identities to buy tickets for acts including Ed Sheeran and Lady Gaga and re-sell them at inflated prices on secondary ticketing sites such as Viagogo.

TQ Tickets sold £6.5million worth of gig tickets between 2015 and 2017, but this does not include the hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of unsold tickets that trading standards officers found when they raided its offices in Dickleburgh, Norfolk.

Now, a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing at Leeds Crown Court, told Chenery-Woods she must pay £995,279 within weeks or face a further four years in jail.

Woods, meanwhile, must pay £2million by April, or face seven years and six months in prison.

Chenery-Woods was sentenced to four years in prison at Leeds Crown Court in May 2024.

Woods received a two-year suspended prison sentence and was ordered to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work. He was also told he must observe an electronically monitored overnight curfew for four months.

Yorkshire and Humber Regional Organised Crime Unit (YHROCU), who brought the case, said the pair profited “to the tune of £9,815,351.52, which must be repaid in full”, per BBC News.

Det Ch Insp Jon Hodgeon, from YHROCU, said that the couple used “dishonest tactics to exploit people”.

The couple acquired tickets from reputable sellers, including Ticketmaster, Eventim, SEE Tickets and ACS and used fake identities to resell the tickets at significantly higher prices on secondary ticketing sites such as Viagogo, Seatwave, Stubhub and Getmein, YHROCU said.

Chenery-Woods was subject to a benefit figure of £7,842,799.35, which would remain a debt until paid in full, and the sum for Woods was £1,972,552.17, it added.

During the trial, the jury heard statements from Sheeran’s manager, Stuart Camp and promoter Stuart Galbraith, who described the “extensive measures” they went to in a bid to prevent the re-selling of tickets at inflated prices for the singer’s 2018 UK stadium tour.

The Labour government announced back in January 2025 that they’d be looking to enforce a price cap on how much touts can re-sell tickets for, alongside an official consultation into the industry and controversial ‘dynamic pricing’ practices. In November – after the likes of Radiohead, Sam Fender, Dua Lipa and more lead the call for them to keep their pledge – the government confirmed their plans to enforce a ban.

New rules will make it illegal to re-sell tickets for live music, sports, comedy and theatre events above original cost – making re-sold gig tickets roughly £37 cheaper on average and collectively saving fans £112million per year. Massive fees from secondary ticket sellers will also be stamped out.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy spoke to NME after the announcement, telling us: “We promised when we were elected that it would be time up for ticket touts. It’s a good day.”

Explaining the finer details of what it means for gig-goers, she continued: “People will obviously be able to re-sell their tickets, but not for any more than the price they paid for it. They’ll have to sell it at face value.

“You do get lots of people who later find that they can’t go to a gig or sporting event, and we want to make sure that they can still sell their ticket. They won’t be able to add on any more money than they paid, but they will be able to get their money back.”

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