“District Judge Peter Ward told the defendant that, in his view, there was no need for a layer of tomatoes on a shepherd’s pie.”
The issues in this case, as far as I can gather from the original report in The Telegraph, turn on the recipe for “Shepherd’s Pie”.
The facts are relatively straightforward, if somewhat bizarre. Two brothers, Michael and John Garvin, had been drinking all day. Despite this, Michael (a chef) cooked his brother a Shepherd’s Pie and sat back to bask in gratitude. John, however, “voiced his disquiet that the pie was not topped with a layer of sliced tomatoes.”
Michael responded by saying that a “layer of tomatoes was not the appropriate way to finish off a shepherd’s pie, and responded by hitting him over the head with a shovel.”
The Telegraph report continues: “As the argument got out of control, John threatened to petrol bomb his brother’s flat and was arrested.”
Hat Tip to The Prisoner’s Voice blog for alerting me to this important judgment.
Unfortunately, i do not feel strongly enough about the inclusion of Tomatoes as a garnish to Shepherd’s Pie to actually go out and hit a Shepherd over the head with a Shovel…..
I hate to think what John Prescott would have done with the pie.
Unfortunately I had to kill my friend for putting vinegar on my chips. Fortunately I got off having pleaded self defence.
Charon, don’t mock the inflicted as you can see from this photoshop of John Prescott he looks the worse for wear.
http://prisonersvoice.blogspot.com/2008/04/billy-bragg-drowns-out-political.html
Your retelling of the news story by way of an amusing law report in my opinion is superior to the original.
It is also a kick up my arse for being lazy in just cutting and pasting a snippet on to my blog. This is alright if the report cannot be bettered. Must do better in future.
This has brought memories flooding back of my school, which did indeed put sliced tomatoes on top of Shepherd’s Pie. If anything they make the dish worse, not better.
In my insured advice / consultancy employment law days we dealt with no end of chefs going mad. Either the job itself can send you over the edge, or it attracts those with a predisposition to violence and psychosis.
[…] Magistrate’s Blog Chefs April 21, 2008, 9:40 pm Filed under: Uncategorized Charon QC, quoting The Prisoners Voice, quoting the Telegraph, reports on a case where a chef was prosecuted […]
Usefully Employed… It seems to me that both of these chaps (one only was a chef) – may possibly need an anger management course and advice on drinking.
Right… I’m going to petrol your house’ seems to me to be a wholly disproportionate response as well.
Barking…. Than k god I don’t spend all day drinking Rioja…. lord knows what stunts I could pull then
If it was a pastry pie, for instance a fine British steak & ale pie, and he brought out a dish of stew with a piece of puff pastry on top I’d be appropriately displeased because, quite frankly, I’m of the opinion that a top-crust does not a proper pie make and these things are important. But to get angry over Shepherd’s Pie, which is basically mash and mince – a dish not worthy of the ‘pie’ moniker? Imbeciles!
You missed out an exciting detail from the Telegraph report:
“He spent a night in the cells in Blackburn, Lancs, where the pair lived in flats opposite each other.”
Isn’t it touching that “her Majesty’s pleasure” includes such luxurious residential accommodation?
Excellent, Victor!
red sky at night
shepherd’s pie had tomatoes on it so we torched the chef’s house, alright?
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