Bunny woe is costly for countess

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/norfolk/7895569.stm

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A businesswoman has been fined £20,000 and ordered to pay £20,000 costs after health inspectors found a rabbit living in the kitchen of her hotel.

Countess Athanasia Constantine, 40, of north London, was found guilty of 18 food and hygiene breaches at her hotel in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.

District Judge Philip Browning, sentenced Constantine at Norwich Magistrates' Court.

Inspectors had found a rabbit living in the kitchen of Fairholme Hotel in 2007.

Mr Browning said the general "filthy state" of the kitchen was Constantine's "ultimate responsibility".

'Shock and outrage'

Offences included having a dirty kitchen and having poorly trained staff who smoked in the kitchen.

During the trial it was said the rabbit slept in the kitchen with a chef who was allegedly its owner.

Constantine, who refused to disclose the origins of her "Countess" title during her trial, had denied being responsible for the maintenance of the hotel.

John Hardy, mitigating, said: "She wishes to express her shock and outrage at the very unpleasant circumstances which this area of the kitchen found itself in."