A TRADER who sold counterfeit clothing on his market stall in Nelson's popular Admiral Centre has been ordered to pay £1,333 in compensation and costs.

Father-of-four David Safdar Dean, 43, of David Deans Menswear, Nelson, pleaded guilty to eight counts of making unauthorised use of registered trademarks at Reedley Magistrates Court .

A test purchase was made at the stall by Trading Standards officers in November 2001, when they found sweaters bearing the logo of designer label Lacoste.

The items were discovered to be fake when examined by trademark proprietors for Lacoste .

On November 19, 19 items of clothing worth £500 were seized by Trading Standards. Dean said he had paid £1,500 to two men who came to his stall with five mixed bags of clothing.

A complaint was then made by a customer who bought a Fred Perry branded jacket for £55 but later doubted it was genuine. It was confirmed to be counterfeit by authorised agents for Fred Perry.

On March 20, 2002, Trading Standards officers along with trademark holders seized 48 counterfeit garments with various well-known trademarks which were also counterfeit. When interviewed Dean said he bought them from a supplier in Manchester and thought they were genuine.

Mr McNamara told the court that when asked for receipts, he changed his story and said they had been bought at the same time as the clothing seized on November 14.

Additional garments were seized on July 26 and July 30.

Brian Irlam, defending, told the court that Dean had found it difficult to understand what he had done wrong but now accepted he had committed an offence.

He said: "I have seen a sizeable number of these commodities and they clearly show the logos, his dilemma was that the trademark sign was not genuine. How a proprietor of a stall can know that I don't know."

Mr Irlam said Dean did not know he had done anything wrong until he received the summons to court on August 6 which he pleaded guilty to.

The magistrates said they had taken in to account Dean's co-operation with Tradings Standards, his prompt guilty plea, his previous good character and growing young family.

He was fined £100 for each offence, £55 for compensation for the customer who complained and £478.84 costs, as well as forfeiting the goods seized.