A shop owner who was caught selling knives to underage teenagers has been handed a suspended jail sentence.

Undercover 15-year-olds were sold knives and scissors in the Norbury shop as part of a tranding standards investigation.

Shakeb Hakime, owner of Norbury Discount Store, was sentenced to a 10-week prison term suspended for 12 months after he admitted the offence on Monday, December 12.

Additionally, he was ordered to carry out 100 hours of community service and to pay costs of £7,144.00.

Hakime is the first Croydon trader to be handed a prison sentence for selling knives to underage children.

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The £4.99 five-piece knives and scissors set was sold to the 15-year-olds without asking for proof of age or identity

He was previously convicted of as similar offence in June 2014.

Following that conviction, trading standards officers had invited Hakime and his staff on three occasions to attend free training courses on the sale of age-restricted goods.

Neither he nor his staff attended, nor were any in-store systems put in place to prevent further under-age sales from taking place.

Sentencing, District Judge Rana said: “Mr Hakime, as a shopkeeper, has a personal responsibility to prevent the sale of items to under-18s, and to ensure that his staff are properly trained.

“You were given the opportunity to attend free training, but you declined to attend or to send your staff to the free training, and you declined to put any system in place to prevent under-age sales occurring.

“You also failed to ensure that you had proper signage in place.

“Knives are extremely dangerous to those who are under 18. A custodial sentence is justified.”

Hakime admitted selling the knives to under-age customers at Croydon Magistrates’ Court.

It is illegal to sell a knife to anyone under 18, unless it is a knife with a folding blade 3 inches long or less.

Councillor Hamida Ali, cabinet member for communities, safety and justice, said: “It’s gratifying to see the courts taking the sale of knives to young people as seriously as is warranted.

“Knife crime is on the rise in London and we must do all we can to keep potentially lethal knives out of the hands of those young people who feel compelled to carry them.

“Traders have a heavy duty of responsibility here, and should take every step to ensure that they and their staff don’t help knives to get into the wrong hands.”