A BOOTLEGGER thought he was about to strike it lucky when he spotted his next punter in a supermarket car park.

Little did Michele Borrelli realise he was trying to sell fake designer booty to trading standards officer Adam Chambers.

It didn't stop there. Mr Chambers told the Italian he had no money on him to buy four counterfeit Versace and Armani jackets but knew somebody who would.

So Borrelli got in his hire car and dutifully followed Mr Chambers to his office, where fellow trading standards officers tried the jackets on before calling the police to arrest the 35-year-old.

"It's the quickest case I've ever done. It's not often business comes to us," said Andrew Slee, Hampshire County Council's trading standards manager, after yesterday's court case.

Mr Slee, prosecuting, told how Mr Chambers had popped out to buy his lunch at Fareham's Sainsbury store when he was approached by Borrelli.

In broken English the electrician from Naples asked Mr Chambers if he wanted to buy four Versace and Armani jackets for £250.

He said he had picked them up from a trade show and needed to get rid of them before returning to Italy.

After arriving at the trading standards office Mr Slee explained how the Italian tried to sell a black leather looking jacket for £200 while offering to give another three away for free.

Borrelli pleaded guilty to one charge of selling four Versace and Armani jackets bearing a false trade mark and one charge of possessing 11 jackets with false trade marks.

The court heard how the counterfeit designer gear had a mixture of Versace buttons and Armani lining.

The logos had also been altered in subtle ways.

Adrian Dodd, mitigating, said: "He (Borrelli) knows people who have sold these jackets in the past. They never had problems, but I don't suppose they tried to sell them to a trading standards officer."

The court heard how Borrelli bought 116 of the jackets in Italy. They were shipped to England and he collected them in Basildon after paying £800.

Under the Trade Marks Act, Fareham magistrates fined Borrelli £75 for each charge and £100 costs.