Man found guilty of possessing counterfeit goods for supply

Date published: 27 January 2009

A local Bury retailer has been found guilty for a variety of offences under the Trade Marks Act 1994; The Video Recordings Act 1984; The Food Safety Act 1990 and the Licensing Act 2003.

The case was heard at Bury Magistrates Court on Thursday 22 January. The retailer, Mr Imran Mohammed of Butt Hill Stores, Bury New Road, Prestwich pleaded guilty to: possessing for supply counterfeit vodka and DVD’s; having food twelve days beyond its use by date and selling alcohol to a minor. The court heard that the offences occurred on three separate occasions over a twelve month period.

Mr Mohammed was given a three month Community Order with a curfew requirement for between the hours of 11.00 p.m. and 5.30 a.m. This means he will be electronically monitored by Group 4 and if he breached the conditions of the curfew he would be committing an offence and have to come back to Court. The court decided to fine Mr Mohammed £100 on each of the two food safety offences and a further £150 for the under aged sale. He awarded prosecution costs of £1000.

Peter Jagger, Head of Trading Standards for Bury Council, said: “The judge was right to point out the seriousness of this offence as very often counterfeit goods are associated with serious and organised crime and Bury Council Trading Standards takes these issues very seriously. This court case involved persistent offending which was reflected in the sentence imposed”.