A DARWEN shopkeeper sold alcohol to two 15-year-old girls sent to make a test purchase.
Blackburn magistrates heard that Samiruddin Shaikh did not ask if they were 18 or for proof of identity.
But he later admitted that he suspected one of them might have been underage.
Shaikh, 58, of Blackburn Road, Darwen, pleaded guilty to selling alcohol to a person under the age of 18. He was fined £300 with £300 costs.
Chris Moister, prosecuting, said a plain clothes police officer entered Adam's Off Licence in Blackburn Road just before the girls.
Theyoungsters selected a bottle of vodka and one of them handed over the money to Shaikh.
Anser Amin, defending, said his client had been running the shop for 11 years and had no previous convictions. On the day of the offence the defendant's brother had been diagnosed as having cancer.
"That was playing on his mind but he accepts what he did was wrong," said Mr Amin.
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