MAGISTRATES presiding over a take-away boss facing a string of hygiene breaches have washed their hands of him – saying their powers of punishment are not sufficient enough.

Amrit Singh faces nine charges of food safety and hygiene breaches relating to Pritam’s Indian Takeaway on Cricklade Road. He pleaded guilty to all of the charges brought against him by Swindon Borough Council and on Monday came before the bench at Swindon Magistrates’ Court to be sentenced.

Prosecutor Rosemary Heath told the magistrates that concerns had first arisen after environmental health officers had struggled to make contact with the owner of the business in April 2015. Aware that the business was supplying samosas to a number of convenience stores around the town they were keen to carry out a food hygiene inspection after it moved premises four doors down.

She explained that upon their arrival at the premises later in the year they found the shutters down and no sign of activity from within, but on closer inspection saw a light on inside. They banged on the shutters for half an hour before he came to let them in.

“He claimed the business belonged to his mother and he had stepped in after she fell ill,” Ms Heath told the court, before outlining that the council had doubts about this after discovering him announcing on social media that he had become the managing director of the business.

Once inside the premises they found the cooker hobs encrusted with food debris, damaged lighting fixtures, waste oil cans accumulating in the kitchen area and food waste littered on the floor.

They also found two fans encrusted with dirt and dust blowing directly onto open pans of cooked lamb mince to cool it down, while samples of roti dough and lamb curry in the kitchen were found to be mouldy.

The toilet was also found to open out on to the kitchen, while the only handwash basin in use was in the toilet as the one in the kitchen was being used to store equipment. Singh had undertaken no food hygiene training and had been unsupervised.

They also found traces of mice, with droppings and nesting material behind both the fridge and the freezer, prompting the inspectors to issue an immediate closure of the business.

The inspectors demanded a list of businesses that the 32-year-old supplied, but Singh claimed he could not provide them with this, hampering attempts for a product recall.

Ms Heath added that the cost of the investigation and bringing the matter to court had cost the tax payer £3899.

His defence, Ben Worthington, told the magistrates that Singh, of Attlee Crescent, had stepped up to take on his mother’s business after she was hospitalised.

“He didn’t want to have to go to his mother in hospital and say to her ‘I hope you get well as soon as possible, but you haven’t got a business to come back to because I can’t manage that myself. He took it upon himself to try and pick up things and keep the business going,” he said.

The magistrates retired at length to consider their sentence, but upon their return chairman of the bench Richard Mattick told him: “We came to the decision that we were in agreement with the council that the harm here was high and there were a number of aggravating features.

“If we were to deal with this matter in this court we would be limited to a fine. We do not feel that the fine this court could impose would send out the right message. We think that the offences are serious enough to justify a custodial sentence and therefore we are sending it to the crown court for sentence.”

Singh will next appear at Swindon Crown Court for sentence on a date to be set. In the meantime he remains on unconditional bail.