Subway worker who stuffed lettuce up his nose spared jail

A sandwich bar worker sacked after footage of him stuffing lettuce up his nose appeared on YouTube narrowly avoided a jail sentence yesterday.

Richard Benjamin Shannon, who was also seen putting salad leaves in his mouth and spitting them out, was arrested last year after a "disgusted" customer recognised the 22-year-old on the internet.



Shannon was arrested after the irate woman went to a branch of Subway in Brownhills, West Midlands, and hurled a chair at him, Walsall Magistrates' Court heard. The defendant, of Castle Street, Brownhills, pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to a single charge of contaminating or interfering with goods with intent to cause economic loss, alarm or injury.

He claimed the incident, filmed by a friend on a mobile phone early last year, had been a prank and that the lettuce, which went back into a tray used to make customers' sandwiches, had been discarded.



But magistrates' chairman Elizabeth Baugh, who viewed the footage of the offence, said it had caused great anxiety and distress. The magistrate told Shannon: "Despite your previous good character, your actions merit a custodial sentence.

"However, due to your early guilty plea and the fact you have shown remorse for your actions, we are imposing a community order." Shannon, who had faced a jail term of up to six months, was also ordered to do 300 hours of unpaid work for the community.