By Illegal sale of knives to minors in Oxford
Resna Khatun, 33, of Moorbank, Blackbird Leys, has been fined for illegally selling a knife and blades to a minor in Oxford last summer.
She was previously a shop assistant at Poundland in Oxford’s Templar’s Shopping Park.
She admitted selling them to the boy at Oxford Magistrates’ Court on Monday, and has been charged with two counts of selling an offensive weapon to a person under 18. This follows an incident where using a 16-year-old Fire Cadet volunteer, Oxfordshire County Council trading standards made a test purchase of the utility knife and a pack of replacement blades at the store on 25 July 2019.
On this occasion, Khatun failed to request ID from the teenager.
Khatun will now be required to pay a £390 fine, a £39 victim surcharge and £450 in costs.
The head of the trading standards service, Jody Kerman, said that employees who can sell knives and age-restricting products ‘need to know’ that they will be liable if something goes wrong – not the shop.
She said that, due to the current situation surrounding knife crime and gang activity: “We never take the decision to prosecute someone for an offence of this nature lightly. However, if a retail employee sells a knife to someone under-18 without making the necessary checks, then they need to understand that they are personally liable.”
Between April 2018 until March 2019 Trading Standards services across England and Wales carried out 2,231 test purchases of knifes in 344 stores.
15 per cent failed to complete the age checks required by law.
As part of Operation Sceptre by Thames Valley Police, further test purchasing and business visits will continue to be carried out by officers.
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