Chip boss held after wife dies
A CHIP shop owner has been arrested after his wife died of injuries suffered when she was burned by boiling fat.
Mavis Bran, 69, died in hospital six days after suffering burns to 30 per cent of her body in the lunchtime tragedy in a sleepy village.
Mavis and husband Geoff, 70, had opened the business in a cabin after coming out of retirement because they were feeling bored.
A sign outside the shop yesterday said it was “closed due to illness” as police appealed for help from customers.
The couple went back to working in January by opening the popular Chipoteria takeaway in Hermon, near Carmarthen, West Wales.
Geoff had built the cabin and installed its fryer in a roadside yard next door to their house.
The couple recently appeared on the Welsh language TV show Heno, with former pub landlady Mavis proudly saying: “We have a box of 120 fish and it is all gone in a week.”
During the same show customers Ken and Cerys Davies described the Chipoteria as “a real paradise”. Mavis and Geoff had previously worked at other pubs and restaurants in West Wales and developed property.
One neighbour said of Mavis: “She was a real good woman and it is a terrible tragedy.” Carmarthenshire Councillor Irfon Jones said: “She was a lovely lady. The shop is very popular.”
Furun Zhou, who runs the nearby Blue Bell Inn Chinese restaurant, said: “We are feeling very sad as she was a lovely lady. It is very sad news.”
A spokeswoman for Dyfed-Powys Police said: “A 69-year-old woman sadly died at Morriston Hospital on Monday.
“She passed away after sustaining burns following an incident at the chip shop in Hermon at around 1.30pm on Tuesday, October 23.
“A 70-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the incident and released on police bail while the investigation is ongoing.”
Anyone who visited the shop between 12-3pm on October 23 is asked to contact Dyfed-Powys Police.
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