Daily Mail
March 27, 2015
The owner of a string of award-winning Indian takeaways has been charged with manslaughter after a pub landlord with a severe peanut allergy died after eating a curry.
Paul Wilson, 38, suffered an anaphylactic shock after eating food from the The Indian Garden in Easingwold, North Yorkshire.
The takeaway’s owner, Mohammed Khalique Zaman, has been charged of manslaughter by gross negligence – the first case of its kind in Britain.
The 52-year-old, who runs the Indian Garden restaurant in Easingwold, North Yorkshire, will appear before Northallerton magistrates tomorrow.
Father-of-one Mr Wilson, who had a six-year-old son, bought the curry in January last year and collapsed and died in his bathroom in the Oak Tree pub in Helperby, near Thirsk.
His death came months before the introduction of new laws demanding that all food businesses provide allergy information on unpackaged foods like takeaways.
All though allergies to foods like nuts are increasing, Mr Wilson’s death is one of around ten each year in Britain.
His case has led to a major purge by trading standards officers targeting a food fraud in which peanuts are used in place of more costly almonds.
Most curry lovers are unable to taste the difference unless they suffer from a nut allergy – in which case the results can be fatal.
Mohammed Khalique Zaman, 52, from York, has also been charged with perverting the course justice and an employment offence under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006.
He has run takeaways and restaurants across North Yorkshire for decades and his Jaipur Spice chain won best in the count in 2012 and 2013 at the Bangladeshi Catering Association Awards.