UNLICENSED sex shops in Bournemouth that can be visited by children are illegally selling pornographic videos, councillors have been told.

Businessman Timothy Hemming, who owns two licensed sex shops in Holdenhurst Road, presented councillors with two R18-rated videos that a member of his staff had bought at an unlicensed adult store.

And he said residents who wanted to see his stores closed should turn their focus on the thriving unlicensed trade that poses a "far greater risk" to the community.

Mr Hemming, who owns Harmony and the Adult Store, launched into his attack on unlicensed shops at a meeting of the licensing committee.

After being told by objectors that his shops attracted "sexual deviants" and were "offensive" to residents, he said: "My licences allow the council, the police and the regulatory powers to monitor me.

"We have CCTV in our shops, we don't sell to under-age children and my staff are fully trained.

"But every time I come here I get bombarded by these objections. You should be asking the council to close down the unlicensed shops.

"I'm as annoyed and disillusioned as you are with unlicensed premises. I pay a lot of money for my licence and yet unlicensed shops continue to operate.

"I sent one of my guys to one of these stores yesterday and he came back with two videos that can only be sold by licensed premises. There's your evidence."

Sex shops only need a licence if a "significant" amount of their stock is adult material. Their operation is then strictly regulated by the council.

Councillors stressed they were doing their best to crack down on unlicensed businesses and said they would investigate the shop that had sold the two videos.

They also reissued Mr Hemming's two shops with licences for a further year.

Chairman Cllr Anson Westbrook said: "We have prosecuted people already and there are other prosecutions pending. We much prefer something that we have control over than other shops where we have no form of control."

First published: November 3