Special investigators revoked a man's business license after intelligence suggested he sold alcohol, cigarettes and vapes to minors. 

Essex Police’s Child Sexual Exploitation Proactive team investigated the former owner of the Claydons newsagent in Colchester High Street.

Mangesh Dev, 42, of Henry Everett Grove, Colchester, was arrested in December 2021 following reports of two women being assaulted. 

Essex Police’s intelligence also suggested that Dev had been selling alcohol, cigarettes and vapes to underage girls at his shop and the special investigators worked together with the licensing team, to have his license to sell alcohol revoked. 

Dev was subsequently charged with two count of sexual assault on a female and he pleaded guilty to battery on May 28, when he was also fined £1,050. 

Detective Constable Chelsie Stamford said “Mangesh Dev will no longer have the license to sell alcohol, reducing the risk of him manipulating and exploiting young, vulnerable girls. 

“Our Child Sexual Exploitation Proactive Investigation team are trained at spotting risks within local communities, often before they are reported to us. 

“We rely on intelligence from the public and I encourage anyone, who may be concerned about children within their community to contact us so that we can investigate.” 

Dev was also fined £500 at Ipswich Crown Court for being “overfamiliar” with two customers, kissing them and slapping one of them on the bottom. 

The first incident took place in August 2021, when Dev tried kissing a customer in her mid-20s and smacking her on the bottom so hard that it caused her pain. 

The second incident in September 2021 involved a 16-year-old girl who was also a regular customer at the shop. 

Sarah Forshaw, defending Dev, said her client had been a popular and successful businessman, having served as a former soldier in Afghanistan.

As he became "overfamiliar" with some of his regular customers and the charges that followed he had been unable to extend the licence for his shop and sold the business at a loss.

He and his wife were now divorced and he had been seeing a psychiatrist.