Three bottles of vodka were illegally sold to a 13-year-old girl by Amplavanar Ramanan at Conteh's off-licence in Church Street, on August 21 last year.

This evening Westminster Council's licensing committee will decide whether to revoke the shop's licence, which allows it to sell alcohol to over 18s from 8am to 11pm Monday to Saturday, and from 10am to 10.30pm on Sunday.

The girl visited the shop twice on the same day - the first time to buy one bottle of vodka and the second time to buy two bottles - with CCTV showing that Mr Ramanan did not ask for any form of identification on either occasion.

Her mother later found the teenager with friends, 'staggering and barely able to walk' with 'slurred speech'.

She put her daughter to bed and visited the shop the next day, demanding to know why her daughter had been sold alcohol at the age of 13.

During a police interview, Mr Ramanan said he thought the girl was 20, and that this was the first time he had sold drink to anyone under-age. He added he thought the teenager was a different girl, who had been in the shop earlier that day and had shown him proof of age already.

Licensing officers have recommended that Conteh's premises licence is removed, to prevent 'the potential for crime and disorder resulting from the sale of alcohol to minors,' and 'to protect children from harm from the sale and consumption of alcohol.'

If this is not agreed, Westminster Council's licensing officers want the sale of alcohol banned at the shop for three months, and Mr Ramanan prevented from selling or supplying alcohol.

Identification would also need to be shown by anyone buying alcohol, and no beer, cider or lager above 5.5% alcohol strength would be allowed to be sold.

Mr Raj, manager of Conteh's, said he had fired Mr Ramanan last week.

He said: "I employed him for the job, but he didn't do it. He had seven years of experience selling alcohol, so he shouldn't have done it."