A man who sold illegal and counterfeit cigarettes to trading standards officers three times has been left hundreds of pounds worse off.
Richard Kelly, 62, from Sunnybrow, also had more than 2,000 counterfeit cigarettes stashed in a footstool at his home when it was raided by Durham County Council.
Kelly, of Huntsgarth, was prosecuted by the council on three charges under the Trades Mark Act 1994 and one of selling products which failed to meet legal requirements relating to display of health warnings.
Newton Aycliffe Magistrates Court on Wednesday heard how in January this year, a council officer acting on information called at Kelly’s home and bought from him two packs of cigarettes labelled as being the Pride brand.
A month later, another test purchase was carried out at Kelly’s home with him this time selling two packs of what were labelled as Richmond King Size cigarettes for £10.
Finally in March, the third test purchase saw Kelly selling an officer 200 of the same cigarettes for £50.
A month later, a search warrant was executed at the property with the defendant present. In the footstool in the living room, 2,340 cigarettes were found which were again said to be Richmond.
The court heard all the cigarettes from the test purchases and the raid were checked by an expert who confirmed them to be counterfeit.
The cigarettes from the January test purchase were ‘Cheap Whites’ and did not display both written and pictorial health warnings as required by law, including ‘Smoking Kills Quit Now.’
Kelly was interviewed and admitted all the offences. He said he had been making modest profit from selling counterfeit tobacco since Christmas 2017.
In court Kelly pleaded guilty and said he had used the profit to repay people he had borrowed money from.
Magistrates imposed a fine of £210, costs of £600 and a victim surcharge of £30.
Joanne Waller, the council’s head of environment, health and consumer protection, said: “All tobacco is bad for people’s health but Cheap Whites have an added risk as tests have shown they can burn longer than normal cigarettes and do not self-extinguish, increasing the risk of them causing fires.
“Sales of illegal cigarettes help to fund criminal lifestyles and activity within communities and makes tobacco more accessible to young people increasing the risk of them getting hooked on smoking.
“As this case proves we will employ whatever means necessary to tackle the supply of illegal tobacco and we hope the financial penalty and criminal conviction will serve as a warning to anyone involved.”
Any residents of County Durham who have information or concerns about sales of illegal tobacco in their communities can report them anonymously, to the Keep It Out Hotline on: 0300 999 0000 or online at keep-it-out.co.uk