A LEADING York landlord faces a court bill of more than £1,000 after he admitted selling watered-down vodka.

Michael Short, 61, the landlord at the Burton Stone Inn, in Clifton, told York magistrates his assets had been frozen.

Trading standards officers carrying out a routine check found that Smirnoff Vodka at the pub had been watered.

Liz Levett, prosecuting, said the vodka had been only 27.4 per cent proof, instead of 37.5 per cent as listed on the bottle. About a quarter of the bottle's contents was added water.

Short pleaded guilty to a breach of food safety regulations. He was fined £250, with £815.80 prosecution and investigation costs.

Ms Levett told the court that officers from York trading standards made a routine check at the pub in December 2003, and sent samples of the vodka to a food analyst, who concluded there was 26 per cent added water.

Short claimed he had been away from the pub for two days before the officers called. During that time, the bar had run out of vodka and an employee had bought some more from a local shop. The vodka was put in the bar optic by a second employee, who had left the pub a day later. Short was unable to give trading standards officers details of the second employee.

Under food safety law, a landlord is guilty of an offence if vodka in his pub contains extra water, even if the water has been put there by another person.

Short told the court that all his assets were currently frozen, though he could collect his disability benefit from the post office.

He walks with a limp and has hearing problems.

The court suggested that depending on his financial situation, the court bill could be handled by insolvency practitioners.

Short did not comment as he left the court.

The pub is still open for business, and he has been the landlord since 1998.

Updated: 09:16 Saturday, May 07, 2005