The founder of a French company that manufactured faulty breast implants has been jailed for four years.<br /><br />Jean-Claude Mas, who ran Poly Implant Prothèse (PIP), was found guilty of fraud after deliberately using sub-standard silicone in thousands of implants sold around the world. Mas was also fined 75,000 euros.<br /><br />His lawyer, Yves Haddad, said he would appeal.<br /><br />Three other company executives were given shorter jail terms and a fourth was given a suspended sentence.<br /><br />Dozens of his victims waited outside the court in Marseille.<br /><br />Joelle Manighetti from France said: “We don’t care about financial compensation, that won’t bring us back our health. What matters is the recognition, the fact that all women are taken into consideration as victims.”<br /><br />Jan Spivey, a British victim said: “I think it was an important decision, but it’s the first criminal trial that Jean-Claude Mas is facing, so it’s the start, it’s the first step in the right direction as far as we are concerned.”<br /><br />The scandal first emerged in 2010 after doctors noticed abnormally high rupture rates in PIP implants. Around 300,000 women in 65 countries believed to have received the faulty implants.<br /><br />The French government has offered to pay to replace all PIP implants. In Britain, the government has said it will pay for those originally fitted for medical reasons.
