A CHEF from Fairfield Hospital stole food to help him set up his own sandwich shop.

Neville Ward Jackson (52), of Broad Oak Lane, Bury, pleaded guilty at Bury Magistrates Court on Thursday (Aug 19) to stealing food to the value of £530.

He also asked for a further three similar offences to be taken into consideration.

Mr Ian Walsh, prosecuting, told the court how the police searched the home of the acting head chef at Fairfield, after an anonymous tip-off from a member of staff.

He said: "Management at the hospital were given information about a member of staff taking food from the store room. The defendant had been seen loading food into his car.

"On one occasion, security staff at the hospital saw the defendant leaving the kitchen area with bags, and loading them into the back of his car, which was parked nearby.

"The defendant was spoken to and the police were called. Officers were taken to the defendant's car and food was found in the boot. He was then arrested."

Jackson was taken to Bury police station and his house was searched. A large quantity of frozen and tinned food, and coffee was found.

Mr Walsh added: "The defendant admitted taking the food and said he was going to open his own sandwich stop in the future."

The case was adjourned until September 27 for a pre-sentence report at Bury Magistrates Court. Jackson was granted unconditional bail.

John Wilkes, responsible for security and counter-fraud operations for the Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "Stealing from a hospital is a particularly despicable act. The NHS has limited resources and every pound that we lose hits us hard. The trust's own security staff worked closely with Bury CID in this operation and should be praised for their efforts.

"This sends out a strong message that we have an absolute zero tolerance policy on theft."