COURTS
Couple who stole £150,000 from TV chef Stephen Terry spared jail
Stephen Terry said the ruling was “an absolute sham”
ATHENA PICTURE AGENCY
The TV chef Stephen Terry called a judge’s sentence an “absolute joke” after a couple who defrauded his restaurant out of £150,000 were spared jail.
Terry, who was Gordon Ramsay’s best man and appeared on Great British Menu, said the business survived “by the skin of its teeth” after Nicola Nightingale, 48, stole the money while working at The Hardwick, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire.
Cardiff crown court was told that Nightingale transferred £46,741 in cash into her husband Simon’s account and splashed out on luxury holidays.
She pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position. Her husband, 50, a chef, denied acquiring criminal property but was found guilty after a trial. He claimed that the money from his wife was her wages plus money for
