A MAN who admitted selling thousands of pounds worth of counterfeit cigarettes and tobacco at an east Durham social club has been given a 12-month community order.

Jan Sergeant, 49, was put under surveillance after trading standards officers were tipped off he was selling fake goods.

Durham County Council launched a five-month investigation and he was arrested on February 15 after he was seen selling tobacco at Horden Victory Club.

Peterlee magistrates were told the counterfeit brands of cigarette were not made to the required standard and may have contained excessively high levels of toxic chemicals, which could cause serious health effects on those who smoked them.

Trading standards officers found 26,600 cigarette at a garage in Logan Terrace, South Hetton; eight boxes containing 651 packets of rolling tobacco and 1,600 cigarettes at a house in Pesspool Avenue, Haswell; and 1,600 cigarettes as well as 569 packets of rolling tobacco in his Ford Focus.

The tobacco products were worth about £6,750.

Sergeant pleaded guilty to eight counts of failing to comply with regulations when supplying a tobacco product, one count of possessing goods with a false trademark and one count of failing to notify of a change in circumstance affected benefits entitlement.

Neil Bennett, mitigating, said he had acted out of desperation in trying to pay off thousands of pounds worth of debts.

Speaking after the hearing, Durham County Council spokesman Chris Cooper said: “Tobacco is the major cause of health problems in the North-East and illicit tobacco completely undermines the work of the stop smoking services and circumvents the controls on the supply of tobacco that protect children."

Sergeant of Kingston Crescent, Haswell, is required to do 220 hours of unpaid work. He was also ordered to pay costs of £560.