A JUDGE yesterday called for a police probe into the sale of alcohol to underage youngsters after jailing a teenager for raping a girl while they were both drunk.

At Teesside Crown Court Judge David Bryant urged that guilty shopkeepers should be stripped of their licences to sell alcohol.

The court heard that a group of youngsters in Peterlee, County Durham, were drunk on the night the 16-year-old was raped.

She had to be held up before she was taken away and raped by Karl Stephenson, 17, who was also drunk, said Tim Bubb, prosecuting.

Stephenson, of Galloway Grove, Peterlee, was sentenced to four years detention and placed on the Sex Offenders' Register for life after being convicted of raping the girl on March 16, last year.

Stephenson, who was on an anti-social behaviour order, claimed the girl consented to sex.

The judge said: "Anyone who sat through this trial must have been appalled at the ease with which children and young persons were able to buy alcohol, apparently from shops.

"I hope police will investigate which shops are indulging in this practice so that the matter may be brought to the attention of the licensing justices when their licences are up for renewal."

But last night in Peterlee - where one of the most stringent sale of alcohol policies in the region is operated - the problem was laid at the door of irresponsible adults and bootleg booze smugglers.

The head of the Easington police division, Chief Superintendent Alan Saddler, said local off-licences were frequently checked and were found to be operating responsibly.