A MAN who bought eight bottles of lager and a bottle of vodka for a 14-year-old boy in Newport was fined this week.

Alway police issued the 50-year-old man with an £80 fixed penalty notice after he was found to have supplied the teenager with booze.

It is thought the teenager asked the man, who he did not know, to buy the drink in a local shop on his behalf.

This is just the latest result in Alway police's long-running campaign against underage drinking, which they say is a serious cause of concern among residents and is often a trigger for other offences.

Alway inspector Mick Moyles said: "Our communities continually inform us that antisocial behaviour, fuelled by young people consuming alcohol, is one of their main priorities.

"We have targeted that issue robustly and this prosecution shows the extent that we will go to in order to identify such offenders.

He warned that adults who buy alcohol for underage drinkers will be prosecuted if they are caught.

He added that the same applied to shops who sold alcohol to underage customers.

Last month, officers gave a licensed shop in Ringland an £80 fixed penalty notice for selling alcohol to a 16-year-old boy.

In a further operation, between October and December, the Alway neighbourhood policing team confiscated 95 litres of lager, 47 litres of cider, 20 litres of spirits, and four litres of wine from youngsters.

Inspector Mick Moyles added: "The neighbourhood team here in Alway is working very hard to reduce underage drinking and antisocial behaviour.

"Residents, shops and pubs should know that we will prosecute anyone who breaks the law."