Prison cookery course run by TV star used as front for drug smuggling

23 September 2023 , 15:39

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C4 star Fred Sirieix chats to inmates in the kitchen on a jail visit (Image: PA)

A prison cookery course run by the host of TV’s First Dates was hijacked by inmates who used it as a front for drug smuggling.

Channel 4 star Fred Sirieix was brought in by governors to teach lags how to run a restaurant in a bid to get them to give up crime. But the plan backfired when guards suspected some cons were taking deliveries of drugs at the pop-up eatery.

Bosses launched a probe at infamous Wormwood Scrubs, West London, and banned 15 inmates from the course. A source said: “Fred was gutted. This is a brilliant scheme and it is a shame some of the prisoners had to be removed. Fred won’t be deterred and is expanding the plan to more jails.”

Wormwood Scrubs Prison in West London (Fulham Chronicle)

The alarm was raised when staff suspected drugs were being thrown over a wall to a spot near the restaurant area by suppliers on the outside. Security was ramped up and nets installed. No drugs were found in the restaurant and there was no evidence of the trainee lags being involved. But the original members were not allowed back, as a precaution, and a new group was selected to start working.

A spokesman for Fred’s charity The Right Course said: “The cohort were removed from the practical side of working in the restaurant in case they were involved in any way. But they were still supported to complete their qualification from the classroom. A new cohort started in the restaurant once the nets were in place.

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“Things were thrown over the external wall – as all prisons have to deal with – landing near the staff restaurant. This required additional nets to be added and security took the correct stance on removing all learners from the course in case they were involved. Security is the main priority.”

Fred was 'gutted', a source said (PA)

The prison restaurant course culminates in a City & Guilds Level 2 diploma in catering and front-of-house and aims to boost lags’ employment prospects after they are released. French maitre Fred, 51, has spoken of his pride in the scheme, saying: “We have to believe in redemption, in forgiveness, we have to believe in giving people second chances.

“For some people it will be the third, it will be the fourth or the fifth chance. If you’ve ended up in prison it’s because something somewhere has failed.” Some 180 prisoners have completed the course after a third prison, HMP Lincoln, joined Isis, in Thamesmead, South East London, and Wormwood Scrubs in offering it.

A fourth jail is due to begin the scheme this month, plus three more by December. The Right Course says up to 90% of participants have found work after taking part and only two have gone on to re-offend. A Prison Service spokesman said: “Thanks to the efforts of hardworking staff and our £100million security crackdown, we are finding and stopping more contraband behind bars.”

Ross Kaniuk