THE country's first market trader to be prosecuted for selling his goods only in pounds and ounces will learn his fate later today.

The case, at Sunderland Magistrates' Court, has been labelled the one which will shape the future of Britain's weights and measures system, and prove whether European legislation takes precedence over British law.

Father-of-two Steven Thoburn, 36, is being prosecuted for using imperial-only scales, allegedly in breach of the Weights and Measures Act 1985, which was amended to bring it into line with European Union legislation that became effective on January 1, last year.

The case was heard earlier this year by district judge Bruce Morgan.

Mr Thoburn, of Association Road, Roker, Sunderland, who has denied two charges, and faces a possible £1,000 fine on each, said that all he was trying to do was give his customers what they wanted.

He said: ''I wake up at night in a panic and try to work out how we got to this state, and how my mates and I could find ourselves persecuted for doing nothing more than selling fruit and veg.

''It's a nightmare from a sci-fi horror movie and we're living through it right here in England.''

Leading constitutional barrister Michael Shrimpton, who is representing Mr Thoburn, said the case was essentially about "selling a pound of bananas", and if it was lost, the country would suffer at the hands of the European Community, which would be free to pick away at British constitutional law.

Eleanor Sharpston QC, for Sunderland City Council, whose trading standards department brought the prosecution, maintains that if Britain wants to be part of Europe it has to abide by its laws.

There was some good news for Mr Thoburn over the weekend - he is now £2,500 richer after backing the winner of the Grand National.

"To be honest I feel a bit like Red Marauder," he said. "I'm battered and bruised but still standing."