A forger who made £2.7m selling fake vinyl records by artists including The Beatles, Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran has been jailed for three years and six months.

Rehan Ahmed, 40, of Cranleigh Gardens, Southall, west London, was jailed at Inner London Crown Court on Friday for what City of London Police called "a long‑running, highly organised and entirely unlicensed manufacturing operation".

His record factory Phoenix of Vinyl, in Acton was raided in February 2024 after the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) made a test purchase from the premises and discovered evidence of counterfeiting, the force said.

Det Con Daryl Fryatt said Ahmed used the "resurgence" of vinyl music for his own gain.

City of London Police said officers uncovered the largest stash of fake vinyl ever found in the UK, with 2,791 records by 108 different artists including Adele, Ariana Grande, Bad Bunny, Drake, Beyonce and Rihanna.

The works had been faked using four 70-year-old vinyl presses over a period of seven years.

Peter Ratcliffe, BPI director of content protection, said he estimated "tens of millions of pounds" had been "leeched" from artists, record labels and retailers.

He added: "With music on physical formats enjoying a resurgence, the market in counterfeit records has unfortunately also been growing as criminals cash in at the expense of creators and fans.

"This doesn't just impact the legal music economy and everyone that works and invests in it - it also affects every one of us as citizens who fall victim to other forms of criminality that it funds."