Consumer protection law and criminal law have both received considerable analysis from academic lawyers. The role of legal intervention with the aim of protecting the consumer has come in for scrutiny in a number of seminal works, many of which concentrate upon the role of consumer law in the marketplace. The role of criminal law has also been discussed by a large number of leading commentators, with particular attention being paid to the boundaries of criminal sanctions, and particular concern being addressed to increasing criminalisation. Against this background, it is surprising that so little has been written about the role of criminal sanctions in the protection of the consumer
