A CHEF destroyed fruit and vegetables at his place of work when he was sacked for poor performance, York magistrates heard.

Glen Roy Jackson, 60, fought police as they tried to arrest him for his actions at the back door of the Saddle Inn in Fulford, said Thomas Cowan, prosecuting.

Now Jackson has been handed a bill of nearly £1,000 for his menu of violence and food vandalism. Magistrates fined him £576 and ordered him to pay a £58 statutory surcharge, £85 prosecution costs and £205.94 compensation.

The 60-year-old trained chef, of Livingstone Street, off Leeman Road, pleaded guilty to causing £205.95 of criminal damage to fruit and veg and obstructing police.

Mr Cowan said Jackson went to the pub on July 19 at 11.45am and banged on its door.

“His employment had been terminated by the landlord due to alleged poor performance which caused the defendant to be upset, resulting in this incident taking place,” said the prosecutor.

Jackson was told he had been sacked and was asked to leave. But he became aggressive and threw his arms around.

He pushed the landlady when she came to the door and after he had left, the landlord found that fresh fruit and vegetables by the inn’s back door worth £205.94 had been damaged.

Police called to the scene found Jackson near the pub at 12.05pm.

He resisted arrest so forcefully they had to call out reinforcements to get him into a police van

Defence solicitor John Howard said: “In the heat of the moment, he behaved extremely badly, which he regrets.”

He claimed Jackson had had to work very long hours at the Saddle Inn and that he had been promised assistance, but never received any.

The chef had first heard he was sacked when he went to the pub on July 19, alleged the defence solicitor.

He had since found a new job working as a chef outside York.