A WOMAN accused of supplying illegally bought cigarettes to her ice cream van to be sold near schools appeared in court this week.

Darlington Magistrates' Court heard that Julie Meale, 34, owns a van which was travelling around the Copeland Road area of West Auckland selling illicit tobacco near schools.

Trading standards officers were also sold counterfeit packets of Mayfair cigarettes from Meale's employees, Andrew Allison, 47, of Teesdale Walk, Shildon, and his son Kyle Allison, 25, of Redworth Road, Shildon, when the van was parked outside Oakley Cross School, West Auckland, in January.

Prosecutor Catherine Hazell, of Durham County Council, said: "The ice cream van was close to schools so children could easily access the tobacco."

Meale, of St Carileph Way, Bishop Auckland, denied supplying cigarettes to the van but pleaded guilty to two charges of possessing cigarettes and tobacco that did not comply with regulations.

A search of Meale's house found 4,200 Gold Classic cigarettes with a street value of £735 and 20kg of Turner's hand-rolling tobacco valued at about £3,200.

The cigarettes and tobacco were non-UK duty paid and did not have the legally required picture and written health warnings on their packaging.

At the ice cream van there was £56 worth of tobacco and £63 worth of cigarettes, both of which could not be legally bought in the UK.

Only the Mayfair cigarettes were counterfeit but the prosecution believe that Meale was supplying the other illegally-sourced brands to her van to be sold by her employees on their rounds.

This assertion was corroborated by a text message from Andrew Allison's phone where he asked Meale to give his son two sleeves.

Allison then texted his son to advise him to get two sleeves from Meale and he replied ‘You’ll need baccy as well’.

Allison, when interviewed on February 25, admitted that the Mayfair cigarettes were his but stated that he did not know they were counterfeit.

He mentioned that he got the Gold Classic cigarettes and Turner's tobacco from a customer and stated that Meale knew nothing about the cigarettes.

Kyle Allison pleaded guilty to selling counterfeit cigarettes at a previous court hearing and received a £120 fine.

Andrew Allison pleaded guilty to selling counterfeit cigarettes and possessing cigarettes and tobacco for supply without the required health warnings and will be sentenced on November 11.

A Newton hearing has been arranged at Darlington Magistrates' Court for January 6 to determine whether Meale had supplied cigarettes to the van, after which she will be sentenced.

Meale could face the maximum penalty of a £5,000 fine or imprisonment of up to six months.