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May the sauce be with you!
25/10/2002 10:27 - (SA)
London - Dressed in combat jacket and balaclava and armed with a hammer, Maxwell James appeared like any ordinary British burglar as he tried to break into his local village pub in the dead of night.
Far from attempting to grab the pub's earnings, however, James
was after a bottle of HP sauce - a British institution loved by
people around the world for its distinctive fruity flavour.
The crime mystery began hours earlier when James and his wife
Clare headed for the Ilchester Arms in their home village of
Abbotsbury, southwest England, for a spot of lunch.
As their food was served, a row blew up after the couple, both
professional chefs, disputed the authenticity of the chilli sauce
served with their fish cakes.
Maxwell James (37) was convinced he had been given HP sauce and set out to solve the culinary mystery, British newspapers reported Friday, a day after the intruder went before court to explain his peculiar behaviour.
A drunken James failed to break into the pub but damaged a door in the process.
He pleaded guilty to a charge of criminal damage, was handed a
six-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £50 (R800) compensation and £25 (R400) costs.
"Maybe in hindsight I should have returned the next day to sort things out," James told court Thursday. "But to this day I am adamant that what I tasted was brown sauce."
The HP sauce mystery was never solved and the pub is now under
new management.
Among fans of the century-old HP sauce, now part of French food group Danone, is Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz. - Sapa-AFP
- SAPA
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South Africa
