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Two men have avoided jail terms after being sentenced for hacking Sony Music's computers and downloading thousands of tracks, some previously unreleased.

James McCormick, 26, and James Marks, 27, met through a fan website forum and downloaded thousands of tracks from the record company's servers - including previously unreleased Michael Jackson songs, the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) said.

SOCA went on to say that they downloaded around 7,000 songs which were completed tracks or the component parts, as well as artwork and videos. SOCA also said that chatlogs which were recovered from the men's computers showed that they meant to sell some of the files.

They were arrested in May 2011, after Sony identified the security breach, and today received six month sentences suspended for one year at Leicester Crown Court - after pleading guilty to computer misuse offences at an earlier hearing in September. They were also each ordered to do 100 hours community service.

Mick Jameison, from SOCA's Cyber Department, said, "These men stole thousands of copyrighted files belonging to Sony Music. Our remit is to protect businesses as well the public, and we will continue to work closely with law enforcement and industry partners to tackle online criminality."

The hackers stole previously unreleased Michael Jackson songs

Gregor McGill, head of organised crime at the Crown Prosecution Service, said, "James Marks and James McCormick have today been sentenced for hacking the servers of one of the world's largest recorded music companies from their home computers in Daventry and Blackpool respectively.

"Both huge enthusiasts of Michael Jackson, they targeted Sony Music which has the exclusive licence to the late musician's catalogue.  At the time of his death, there existed recorded but unreleased Michael Jackson music which aroused the attention of Marks and McCormick.

"It was the prosecution's case that these men were fully aware that the files they obtained on their computers were subject to copyright and that they took steps to sell on and to share the music with a wider audience in internet forums.

"In simple terms, these men broke into a computer system and took music files that were not theirs to take. That was criminal activity."

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