A shopkeeper blamed a mysterious supplier after he was fined more than £3,000 for selling tobacco illegally.

Chandrasegaram Satheeswaran, owner of Sathees Food & Wine in Streatfield Road, Kenton, was found guilty of three trading standards offences on April 28 at Willesden Magistrates Court.

He was charged with two counts of failing to display the correct health warnings on packets and was also charged with failing to correctly display a notice in the shop prohibiting the sale of tobacco to anyone below 18.

Trading Standards officers and HMRC visited the premises in September 2014, when they discovered and seized 34 packets of cigarettes.

An extra 374 pouches of chewing tobacco, along with more than 2,000 litres of alcohol, were also seized for being incorrectly labelled, had no duty paid and were found behind and under the counter.

Simon Legg, regulatory services manager for Trading Standards said: "The law states that warnings must appear on tobacco products to make it absolutely clear to users of the serious harm they can cause.

“Business owners who think they can get away selling tobacco products that do not comply with the law by hiding them from view but supplying these products from behind the counter are wrong.”

Mr Satheeswaran admitted breaking the law, blaming his mysterious supplier ‘Rajesh’, whom he failed to describe properly during the case.

The owner has previous convictions for selling alcohol to a person under the age of 18 in 2012 and has also been cautioned for selling alcohol after the permitted hours and allowing a person to drink alcohol on the premises.

A Harrow Council spokesman said: “Although the majority of businesses in the borough trade legitimately, there are unfortunately a small group of businesses and individuals who think it is ok to flout the rules.

“Despite being cautioned and convicted of similar offences in the past, this shopkeeper has failed to comply with the law again. Not only could this have potentially put customers at risk, but it is unfair to other businesses that are trading properly.

“We are pleased this individual has been charged again and we hope that it sends a strong message to other individuals and businesses.”

He was forced to pay a total of £3,251, including a £1,000 fine for the cigarette packets having no English labels, £1,000 for the incorrect labelling on tobacco, a £100 victim surcharge and £1,151 in legal costs.