Investigation by police and council sees restaurant owner jailed for manslaughter

A joint investigation by the police and North Yorkshire Trading Standards officers has this week led to a restaurant owner being found guilty of manslaughter, after the death of a man with a severe peanut allergy.

Mohammed Zaman was found guilty at Teesside Crown Court on Monday (23 May) of manslaughter through gross negligence.

Zaman was put on trial following the death in January 2014 of Paul Wilson, from Helperby, who had a severe peanut allergy.

The investigation by the police and Trading Standards discovered malpractice by the defendant, who had made a takeaway meal by substituting almonds with a cheaper ingredient of a ground peanut mix. The meal was sold as “nut-free”.

The defendant was also found guilty on charges of employing illegal workers and six breaches of food regulations. He was found not guilty of perverting the course of justice.

Zaman was sentenced to six years in prison.

North Yorkshire County Councillor Chris Metcalfe, Executive Member for Trading Standards, said: "We welcome the verdict of the court in this case. It is vitally important that food businesses within the county follow food legislation. That is our simple message: make sure you comply with the law, particularly where it relates to food allergens, as the results of not doing so can be tragic. We will not tolerate malpractice and will continue to pursue anyone who flouts the legislation.

"I would like to thank the Trading Standards officers involved in this investigation. They have done an excellent job in difficult circumstances."

North Yorkshire said that as a result of the Zaman investigation, its Trading Standards service had embarked on a project in 2014 that resulted in the testing of 47 food retail premises to ascertain whether the malpractice in question was widespread in North Yorkshire.

Trading Standards officers made unannounced test purchases. On each occasion, the purchaser asked the food business for a peanut-free takeaway. The test purchases resulted in four prosecutions relating to premises where there was found to be non-compliance with levels of peanuts in meals described as "nut-free". The defendants in these prosecutions were fined between £350 and £1,000.

Cllr Metcalfe added: "I would emphasise that we don't believe these levels of non-compliance are specific only to North Yorkshire food businesses, as the increasing prices of almonds was a nationwide issue."

The project was repeated in 2015 with another similar number of food retail premises being tested.

“The results in that case were very positive,” North Yorkshire said. “The levels of compliance were much higher and no formal action was needed. The service is repeating the project again this year.”