Drug addict ex-chef jailed for stealing food from hotel kitchen
HE RETURNED TO SNATCH STEAKS AFTER HIS SACKING
A DRUG addict former chef bundled food into binbags and stole it, a court heard.
Christopher Brown, 35, of London Road, Nottingham, was an agency chef at The Orchard Hotel, at the University of Nottingham, but was let go.
Due to staff shortages, he was employed as a kitchen porter, but stole from the hotel by shoving food into a binbag which he then placed near a skip.
Nottingham Crown Court heard yesterday that he was confronted by the executive chef on October 23 last year.
Brown claimed he thought the food was out of date and that he was disposing of it – but then admitted he was stealing it. He was sacked.
But he returned to speak to the manager on November 2, 2021, saying he wanted to see the work rota. He then helped himself to steak from the freezer.
Brown had been busy stealing from other businesses too.
They were:
Dunelm Nottingham, part of the Portal Retail Park on Queen’s Drive, where he stole a pack of red bed sheets worth £60 on October 27 last year;
Wilko, South Church Drive, Clifton, where he stole items from the DIY section on January 28 this year;
Wilko, South Church Drive, Clifton, where he took £10-worth of detergent on February 24 this year.
Brown had previous convictions for fraud, possessing heroin and cocaine.
Bianca Brasoveanu, in mitigation, said her client was a bright and intelligent man who could not find the sense to shift his addiction.
He had been remanded into police custody for 26 days after he was homeless – a factor which had fuelled his drug consumption.
“It is clear he needs some form of assistance and direction,” she said of Brown, who is waiting for a date for therapy and is taking methadone.
He received credit for pleas of guilty to five theft charges, receiving an overall sentence of three months.
But five months in prison consecutively was added after he breached a suspended sentence.