Police in Bradford have revealed that criminals are using children to front the sale of counterfeit goods in a bid to avoid prosecution.

The use of young teenagers to evade detection in such cases is a problem affecting the whole of the country, according to officers.

The warning comes after police arrested a 35-year-old man and a 14-year-old youth in connection with the sale of fake DVDs from a vehicle on the Holme Wood estate in Bradford.

Five hundred counterfeit copies were seized, and a similar number from a house in Estcourt Road, Great Horton.

The man was given an adult caution and the teenager was later released.

Inspector Pam Mills, of the Tong and Wyke Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: “Often in such offences, young children are used to front a point of sale, and it is a tactic employed to minimise the risk of being detected and prosecuted.”

David Lodge, of West Yorkshire Trading Standards, said they had come across children working with adults at car boot sales where fake goods were being sold, though it was not a huge problem.

  • Read the full story in Wednesday's Telegraph & Argus