Stourbridge bar owner sold fake England football shirt
A sports bar owner in Stourbridge has been fined hundreds of pounds after he sold a fake England football shirt to a trading standards officer during a sting.
Wayne Etheridge, aged 43, had been due to face two other charges of possessing 112 false shirts in the lead-up to the 2010 World Cup but these were dropped by the prosecution.
Dudley Magistrates Court heard yesterday that Etheridge, who used to runThe Cross Inn Sports Bar in Glass House Hill, had sold the shirt to officer Laura Fisher on June 22.
The shirt was among others later sent to Umbro's head of brand protection who said that, due to its lack of quality, it was fake. Ms Fisher said she had been at the pub at about lunchtime on September 12, 2010 and had seen a sign advertising the football shirts for £27.50 each. A genuine shirt sold for about £44.
She said: "There were two shirts on display and I asked for a red in a small size.
"A few minutes later the person behind the bar returned with one." Etheridge, who said he had run pubs locally for about 20 years, told the court: "I think I was on the premises but I didn't sell the shirt."
Etheridge, of Studley Gate, Wollaston, had denied all four charges but after his solicitor Timothy Gascoyne argued that there was no evidence tying the two bags of football shirts analysed by Umbro to those seized at the pub, the two charges relating to having 112 of the shirts intending to sell them was dropped.
Etheridge, who declined to comment outside court, was found guilty of two Trade Marks Act charges –selling the shirt with a fake Double Diamond Device logo and a fake Umbro logo.
He was fined £200 and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.
