A SHOPKEEPER caught with nearly 1,500 fake pieces of Harry Potter merchandise has been ordered to repay £40,000.

Shabir Siddique, who ran Scotland Road News in Nelson, will face a 12-month prison sentence if he does not find the money, Burnley Crown Court was told.

Siddique, 48, who lives in Huddersfield, was convicted of 50 trademark offences and illicit tobacco supply charges, following a probe by Lancashire Trading Standards, in May last year.

He was given a 12-month community order, including 100 hours community service, over the charges.

But trading standards also has the power to recoup some of the ill-gotten gains of rogue traders under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Judge Jonathan Gibson, after a hearing at the same court, ruled that the benefit figure from his offending amounted to £150,000. However the available assets amounted to £40,000. Siddique faces a 12-month prison sentence in default.

Lancashire Trading Standards conducted two separate raids at Scotland Road News, and the adjoining Jean Junction and Pendle Schoolwear.

In the first swoop, in December 2015, officials founds 1,492 pieces of counterfeit Harry Potter gear, stacked in boxes in a storeroom.

Further searches uncovered fakes including 21 Berghaus hats, 108 Reebok, Adidas or Puma cricket bats, 398 items of assorted Frozen merchandise and around 6,685 badges, infringing the copyrights of well-known brands such as Mickey Mouse, Star Wars, Monsters Inc and Star Trek, and motor companies like Ford, BMW and Land Rover.

Fifteen packets of counterfeit Regal cigarettes, 31 packets of Mayfair cigarettes, seven packets of Amber Leaf hand-rolling tobacco and 17 packets of Marlboro cigarettes were found in a ‘postal room’.

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Another inspection in March 2016 saw fake BMW key fobs, Manchester United and Liverpool FC lighters, and further Frozen merchandise, also seized.

Trading standards officers also conduced a test purchase operation, via Amazon, which saw Siddique sell them fake BMW seatbelt shoulder pads, for £4.99.