Takeaway bosses jailed for manslaughter of schoolgirl with nut allergy

Nut allergy sufferer Megan Lee died from an asthma attack after she ate food from the Royal Spice takeaway in Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire.

The teenager and her friend ordered online via the Just Eat website two days earlier and wrote “prawns, nuts” in the comments and notes section.

However the delivered meal, which included an onion bhaji, a seekh kebab and a Peshwari naan, was later found to have the “widespread presence” of peanut protein.

Last month a jury at Manchester Crown Court found takeaway owner Mohammed Abdul Kuddus, 40, and manager Harun Rashid, 38, guilty of unlawfully killing Megan, from Oswaldtwistle, by reason of gross negligence.

The two-week trial heard there was a “litany of failings” in the kitchen, including poor hygiene and no records of ingredients kept.

Five days after Megan’s death on January 1 2017 the restaurant was immediately closed down following an inspection by Trading Standards and environmental hygiene officers.

Rashid, of Rudd Street, Haslingden, who had claimed he was merely a delivery driver at the restaurant at the time, was also found guilty of failing to discharge a general duty of employers, contrary to the Health and Safety at Work Act, and another count of failing to put in place, implement and maintain a permanent procedure or procedures in contravention of European Union food safety regulations.

On Wednesday, he received a three-year term.

Kuddus, of Belper Street, Blackburn, admitted those charges on behalf of himself and on behalf of Royal Spice Takeaway Ltd, trading as Royal Spice Takeaway, and was given two years.