Hundreds of illegal pornographic magazines and DVDs have been discovered for sale in corner shops across Tyneside.
Trading Standards Officers have seized scores of items which had been packaged to include what are believed to be illegal hardcore pornographic DVDs.
The officers also discovered a series of unclassified pornographic films.
Sale
Dave Ellerington, a trading standards team manager, said: “This sort of material should not be on sale.
“It has not been classified and, as a result, could contain anything.”
He added: “The legislation around the sale of these goods is there for a purpose and that is to protect everyone concerned.
Serious
“We will be enforcing it where necessary and have contacted our colleagues across the region to inform them of what we have found.”
His concerns were echoed by Councillor Anita Lower, Newcastle’s executive member for regulation, who said: “There are clearly serious concerns around unclassified and extreme pornographic material being sold like this in corner shops.
“Laws around the classification of such material are there to protect the public and should be enforced.”
Illicit
The illicit materials were discovered after an officer spotted them on sale in the Heaton area of Newcastle.
The discovery prompted an investigation which resulted in the confiscation of nearly 200 items.
In May it was revealed that a Scottish newsagent had been fined just £53 for selling pornographic magazines on the bottom shelf.
Criticised
Critics expressed concern that the small fine would not restrain other shops from doing the same.
Saeed Ahmed, who ran News World in Kirkcaldy, had the magazines taken away by police as evidence and was charged under a little-used piece of legislation.
But the Front Page Campaign, a group which works to combat the sexualisation of children, criticised Mr Ahmed’s £53 fine saying it was no deterrent at all.