Licensee convicted for selling alcohol to 16-year-old who died in crash

A 16-year-old boy from Burnley died in a crash moments after leaving a pub where he had been illegally served five pints of strong lager by the premises license holder, who knew the teenager was underage, Burnley Magistrates Court has ruled.

Hector Eccles was drinking at the Roggerham Gate in Worsthorne on March 30, 2024, before departing on his Polaris farm bike with a friend as passenger. He lost control shortly afterward, suffering fatal injuries. The passenger was not seriously hurt.

The court heard a two-day trial in which Anthony Wiazcek, 65, of Todmorden Road, Burnley, was convicted of selling alcohol to a person under 18. Wiazcek, the Designated Premises Supervisor and the only staff member behind the bar that night, had known Hector since he was a baby and had taken him to football matches in his younger years.

Wiazcek was fined 660 pounds, ordered to pay a 264-pound victim surcharge and 650 pounds in prosecution costs, and had his personal alcohol license suspended for three months.

In a victim personal statement read to the court, Hector's mother, Wendy Eccles, described the profound impact of her son's death. "The day Hector died I died with him. We don't live our...