A SEX shop owner has been fined £3,000 for trading without the proper licence.

Wayne MacGowan ran a shop called 18+ on Bournemouth’s Holdenhurst Road.

The 46-year-old from Poole pleaded guilty to three counts of trading without a licence at Bournemouth Magistrates Court yesterday.

Police and council officers searched the shop in November 2009 and found 727 hardcore pornographic DVDs.

The DVDs were a mix of R18-rated films, which can only be sold in sex shops, and unclassified films.

They also found sex toys and a substantial number of magazines – the total retail value was £21,789.

Council officers also went undercover and bought a fetish film called Bound for Trouble.

Last Friday an officer bought an unclassified film about couples seducing teenagers.

MacGowan closed the shop at the weekend and it “would not open again”.

The former bus driver and doorman from Blackburn Road in Parkstone bought the shop in 2006.

His defence said he did not know at the time he needed a licence and there were other unlicensed shops in the area.

Tom Horder, defending, said: “It seems that a picture was created that there was a degree of toleration.”

He also said that what made a sex shop was unclear, adding: “When you look at Ann Summers, the line becomes less clear.

“As far as the defence knows none of them are licensed. They sell sex toys, lingerie and pornographic films.”

The prosecution, acting for Bournemouth council, said MacGowan was told he needed a licence in January 2007.

The defence asked for a conditional discharge and described MacGowan as a hard-working, well-liked man who ran the shop in a respectable way.

Mr Horder said his client had recently been elected head of the Black Sheep motorcycle club, which carries out charitable work.

And he stressed MacGowan’s “perilous” financial situation.

Mr Horder said the shop last year only showed a £9,385 profit. MacGowan’s sole income is now from a club in Windham Road that has £26,000 of debt in his own name. However, the magistrates said he had received “plenty of warnings”.

He was ordered to pay the full council costs of £3,878 and the mandatory £15 victim surcharge. He declined to comment afterwards.