A Southport mother who sold counterfeit designer clothing online has been jailed for four years and three months after police discovered £158,000 in cash hidden in her baby's bedroom. Megan Carney-Borrowman, 35, of Birdling Drive, led a conspiracy that sold fake goods purporting to be Chanel, Burberry and Versace through an Instagram account.
Carney-Borrowman was approached to sell the counterfeit items after her success selling weight-loss medication online. Business accounts linked to her showed more than £4m was deposited over a four-year period, although it could not be confirmed how much she had fully benefited from criminality.
Raids and discovery of cash
Her home was first raided in November 2022 after Chanel tipped off anti-crime units. Neither she nor her husband was home, and when later asked, they claimed not to have their phones. Carney-Borrowman tried to deceive officers by handing over her son's phone, but her own phone was recovered, and messages led police to uncover the involvement of Adam Yaffe, 53.
A second raid in April 2023 uncovered her phone on top of a curtain rail in the master bedroom. More significantly, as James Rae, prosecuting, told the court: "She also sought to prevent the officers searching her baby's bedroom, although it became apparent that the real reason was that there was £158,000 in cash concealed in there. This was seized despite the defendant claiming that it was her children's savings that she had withdrawn."
Financial investigation and benefit fraud
The phone showed a "very large volume of chats from which it was overwhelmingly evident that she was selling counterfeit goods and using a 'drop-shipping' method to import them from the overseas supplier directly to the customer's address". Police found Carney-Borrowman had eight business bank accounts and 18 personal accounts, some in the name of her young children. Between 2019 and 2023, the business accounts received nearly £4,319,952.73, with £753,419.50 paid into her personal accounts.
Carney-Borrowman was arrested for benefit fraud in May 2024. An investigation by the Department of Work and Pensions found she benefited by around £68,300, made up of a failure to declare self-employment income, her purchases of two houses, her residing with Borrowman, and their joint assets. She also made a bogus insurance claim, telling Halifax she had lost her Rolex on a night out in Blackpool, but officers saw a Rolex on her wrist matching the serial number of the allegedly missing watch.
Sentencing and impact
Her husband, Jordan Borrowman, 35, received 12 months suspended for 18 months and 120 hours of unpaid work. Her mother, Sandra Carney, 65, of Court Road, was handed two years suspended for 18 months with 120 hours of unpaid work. Adam Yaffe, 53, received an 18-month community order and 120 hours of unpaid work.
Sentencing, Judge Louise Brandon said: "The business operated through Instagram accounts and WhatsApp ordering systems with multiple bank accounts, corporate structures, direct overseas suppliers, drop-ship methods, concealed payments and efforts to avoid detection." She added: "Involvement at any level of counterfeiting are grave offences. You all contributed. It is a consequence of your arrests that your families will also suffer from your criminality."
Detective Inspector Adam Williams of the NWROCU said: "This was a sophisticated and long-running trademarks and money laundering offence which generated significant profits through the sale of counterfeit designer goods while simultaneously exploiting public funds and defrauding an insurance company." He added: "Counterfeit goods are far from a victimless crime. The proceeds often support wider organised criminality, while consumers are deceived into purchasing products they believe to be genuine."
