A CHINESE caterer has been fined £4,000 for a having a filthy kitchen and defrosting food in the back yard of his takeaway.

Chang Ping Kung, proprietor of the Junbo Chop Suey House in Middlesbrough's Acklam Road, pleaded guilty to eight contraventions of the Food Safety Regulations 1995 when he appeared before Teesside magistrates.

The court heard that on visits to the premises, food safety officer Garry Weeks found the covered rear yard was used to store, defrost and prepare food - and dry the family washing.

He found onions being prepared in the yard and a pan of curry paste on an old bed base.

There were bags of chips, shrimps, pork ribs and two chickens defrosting in the same concrete backyard which had a holed roof of plastic sheeting, which failed to meet the top of the wall "in many places".

A pet cat had access to the backyard and the kitchen area, where Mr Weeks found a tin of cat food.

Magistrates were told the wall, floor and pipework behind the Chinese cooking range was "very dirty", coated in an accumulation of grease while the range itself was "filthy".

During an inspection, Mr Kung handled raw chicken and then cooked food without washing his hands - though he "wiped his hands on a dirty cloth", the court heard.

In addition to the £4,000 fine, he was ordered to pay £560 costs