A filthy butcher who allowed fly-infested fat, blood and meat debris to build up at his shop in Norbury has been fined £4,000 at Croydon Magistrates Court.

Mohammed Qadeer, of MM Halal Meat at 1575 London Road, pleaded guilty to three food hygiene offences.

Council officers visited his shop on August 19, 2009 after neighbours complained about the foul smell coming from the back of the premises.

They found fly-infested meat waste bins and a build up of fat, blood and food debris. Cuts of meat were being put directly onto a dirty floor.

The toilet wash hand basin was not connected to the drain and no proper cleaning materials were to be seen.

There were another six inspections carried out through to September but any improvements were made very slowly and the council were forced to serve a hygiene improvement notice on the premises.

In August 2010 inspectors found pharaoh ants and rodent droppings, by October the shop had still not been pest proofed, the meat chiller was in poor repair and a string of other problems with cleaning were also found.

The council’s food safety team prosecuted Qadeer for failure to provide adequate procedures for controlling pests, failure to keep the premises clean and in good repair and failure to comply with the Hygiene Improvement Notice.

He pleaded guilty and was fined £3,000. He was also ordered to pay a further £1,050 in costs and victim surcharges.

Councillor Simon Hoar, cabinet member for community safety, said: "Prosecution is always a last resort as we spend a lot of time advising and educating businesses such as this about their legal responsibilities.

"However the safety of the public is always our prime concern, and when people repeatedly fail to act on what we tell them we have no choice but to use the law in this way.

"In the most extreme cases we will close down premises if they still fail to meet the required standards.

"Since this legal action was taken the property has been re-inspected and is currently undergoing structural refurbishment."