Story at a glance
- A former pub chef was sentenced to four months in jail and handed a 12-month suspension for contravening food regulations in a 2018 incident that left one dead and poisoned 31.
- The cook, John Croucher, said he had been “rushed” into incorrectly preparing a meat-filled shepherd’s pie for a church event.
- Members of the church congregation did not want retribution against Croucher, the pub, or its landlord, Neil Billingham.
A cook in the U.K. on Tuesday admitted to sidestepping food regulations in a 2018 incident that killed one and sickened 31 during a church event. He was sentenced by Reading crown court to four months in jail and given a 12-month suspension.
The chef, John Croucher, 40, said he was “rushed” into incorrectly preparing a meat-filled shepherd’s pie that poisoned more than 30 members of a church congregation and killed one person who had gathered at the Crewe Arms pub in the Northamptonshire village of Hinton-in-the-Hedges for a harvest meal.
At the time, he was the head chef there, though he’s no longer employed by the Crewe Arms.
“I hate to say it, I really hate to say it, but I think I was rushed. I was rushing,” he said while defending himself in court, The Guardian reported.
“Remorse is an understatement. This is something I will never forget. Because of it, I am a better chef and it is just a shame the cost of it had to be what it was,” he added.
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Elizabeth Neuman, 92, reportedly vomited multiple times after eating Croucher’s pie, eventually dying from a gastrointestinal hemorrhage. Just three members of the Holy Trinity church congregation left the pub unscathed, and only because they were vegetarians.
“No sentence I pass can reflect the loss caused to the family,” the judge, Sarah Campbell, said.
Members of the church congregation did not want retribution against Croucher, the pub, or its landlord, Neil Billingham, according to the Guardian.
Campbell during the sentencing also called the pub’s record, independent of Croucher, into question.
“The Crewe Arms is an important pub to the local community. I have read many references from members of the community. They have all said that this was a one-off mistake, but looking at the evidence this was not a one-off mistake. The pub should have been taking steps to be improving. Inspections in 2015 gave it three stars and in 2017 gave it only a one star,” she said.
For his part, Billingham was fined nearly $12,000 for three charges of contravening food regulations and ordered to pay roughly $1,300 in court costs. His company, the Bobcat Pub Co., was fined nearly $4,000.
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