Assaad Ghafoor who owns the Poundsaver in North End Road, Fulham was prosecuted after council trading standards officers caught his sales assistant red-handed, selling a knife to the child. The school boy, who was clearly underage, worked with the council as a test purchaser, to help weed out unscrupulous shopkeepers as part of Hammersmith & Fulham's zero tolerance crackdown on knife sales.
West London Magistrates court ordered Mr Ghafoor of Ashford Road, London, to pay a £500 fine and £740 towards the prosecution costs within 14 days.
Under the Criminal Justice Act 1998 it is an offence to sell knives to under-16s. Similar operations are often used by the council's Trading Standards team to identify shops selling alcohol, fireworks and tobacco to children.
Councillor Michael Cartwright, cabinet member for the environment, said:
"You only need to pick up a newspaper to see how serious a problem knife crime is becoming in London, and unfortunately Hammersmith & Fulham has not been immune from tragedies caused by knives. We decided some time ago that we needed to come down hard on anyone found selling knives to children, and this prosecution shows that we are taking this responsibility seriously. I hope other shopkeepers who hear about this case will look twice at their customer and check their age before they hand over a potentially lethal item."
September 4, 2005
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