THE CELEBRITY CHEF who was arrested and cautioned by police after he stole items such as cheese and bread from his local Tesco store has spoken of being “totally embarrassed, totally apologetic and gutted for my family and friends”.

Antony Worrall Thompson was arrested last week after he was accused of shoplifting five times in 16 days from a Tesco branch in Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire.

The Ready Steady Cook star later apologised “for all my recent stupid and irresponsible actions” after The Sun newspaper revealed the story yesterday. The paper detailed how he had allegedly put some of the items he was purchasing through the scanner but put others straight into his shopping bags.

Now in an interview with the Daily Express newspaper, Worrall Thompson has spoken of how “ridiculous and stupid” it was to steal items such as cheese, bread, onions and two packets of discounted coleslaw.

The 60-year-old gastro pub owner said he may now need to seek psychiatric help: “I don’t feel ill – although I feel sick today – but I think these things go on inside your head,” he told the paper.

He said he had been under a lot of stress and felt he had let people down. Worrall Thompson had to close four of his restaurants in 2009 after being hit by the recession but he insisted his shoplifting was not down to financial worries. “I feel very guilty and want to know why I’ve done this. This has all been so humiliating but it’s a punishment I have to take on the chin,” he added.

For more of the interview, read the Daily Express >

Celeb chef apologises after arrest ‘for shoplifting cheese and wine from Tesco’ >