A Lisson Grove shop owner was fined after he sold a knife to an underage teenager.

Nagin Patel, owner of Church Street Hardware, in Church Street, for 24 years, was prosecuted for selling a paring knife to a 16-year-old boy, during a sting operation by Westminster Council.

Mr Patel pleaded not guilty to the charge but was subsequently found guilty at City of Westminster Magistrates Court last month (October).

He was fined £450, and was ordered to pay £1,213.98 in costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

Westminster Council's cabinet member for community safety Cllr Daniel Astaire said: "We're all well aware of the tragic consequences that can follow when young people carry and use knives.

"For this reason, the sale of knives to young people is rightly against the law and we take any breach very seriously in our efforts to protect our young people from harm.

"I hope this latest verdict will serve as a warning to all stores that we will not tolerate shopkeepers who break the law and put our young people at risk."

The prosecution, on October 14, follows a series of undercover operations carried out by the council's trading standards team, who work with trained young volunteers to test whether shops and staff abide by the law, which forbids the sale of knives to under-18s.

Dozens more test purchases were carried out by the council in August, using 13 and 14-year-old volunteers who attempted to buy knives and cigarettes in 40 shops across the borough.

This exercise resulted in two knife sales and two cigarette sales.

Since April 2008, the council has prosecuted five businesses and six individual sellers for selling knives to under 18-year-olds.

It has also prosecuted a shop for selling cigarettes to a 16-year-old.

The maximum penalty for selling a knife or blade to a person under 18 years old is a £5,000 fine or a six-month jail penalty.