Raw meat was left on the pavement overnight

A Church Street butcher has been fined £7,500 after leaving a dozen bin bags full of raw meat on the pavement overnight – some with bones sticking out.

Shumon Choudhury, 30, of New Al Madina Grocers, put the bags outside his shop after overestimating the amount of meat he would sell for Eid.

A letter had been sent to all businesses in Westminster warning them not to put waste out for more than two and a half hours, prosecutor Mark Seymour told Southwark Crown Court.

“The area is known for people scavenging through food and it’s particularly possible that vermin such as foxes and rats are likely to flourish,” he said.

When Choudhury asked a Grays Waste Services refuse collection driver for advice on how best to dispose of the waste, he was told to double bag the meat and freeze it before collection on November 18, 2010.

Imposing a £4,000 fine and £3,500 costs, judge David Higgins said: “The health hazard is obvious both for vermin and human scavenging.

“Your behaviour was both deplorable and deeply anti-social.”

The judge added that he was willing to accept that Chuodhury did not necessarily appreciate that what he was doing was wrong.

Choudhury pleaded guilty to two charges of failing to comply with the duty of care with respect of waste.