A CITY butcher facing fines of up to £40,000 for short-changing customers has escaped with a £1,600 penalty.

John Sturman faced eight charges each carrying a £5,000 fine at Worcester Magistrates Court yesterday, after Worcestershire Trading Standards found chicken on sale was under the advertised weight.

Paula Williamson, prosecuting, said officers were alerted to Sturman - of the Three Lions Meat Company, Friary Walk, CrownGate - after being tipped-off by a customer.

Officers weighed chickens advertised on a poster as three to three-and-a-half pounds in weight on Thursday, June 8, and found many to be underweight.

One chicken, she added, was 30 per cent deficient.

"The chickens were not marked-up individually as is required by law," she said.

"There was no system for controlling pre-packed goods and therefore no checks had been made. Officers did test the scales at the premises which were found to be OK."

Sturman admitted four counts of misrepresentation of a display, two counts of incorrect weights on display, and two counts of containers not being marked correctly.

Adam Farrer, defending, said Sturman and the shop's manager Andrew Purvin had both accepted they had made mistakes and had since put them right.

He added both men had had personal difficulties at the time and had simply overlooked taking the advert down.

"This is a serious matter and steps have been taken to ensure it doesn't happen again," he said.

"At the time Mr Sturman's wife was ill so he was not paying as much attention to the business as he should have been, and Mr Purvin's wife was having a baby.

"Chicken went up in price so smaller chickens were bought.

"They should have taken the sign down but it was simply an omission, it was not a deliberate mistake to mislead the public.

"When officers visited the shop to carry out interviews later in June, they did more tests and found everything had been put right."

Sturman, of Hayley Green, Halesowen, West Midlands, was fined £200 for each offence and ordered to pay £1,645 costs.