Jamie Oliver gets a bad rap

Posted by Anthea Gerrie Mar 11, 2007

It's not often Jamie Oliver, the celebrity chef with a conscience who has transformed down and outs into cooks and called for Britain's schoolchildren to be given nutritious meals, is viewed as anything but squeaky-clean.

But an article in last week's Sun newspaper, under the headline "Thug Freed to be Oliver Chef" makes him look just the tiniest bit unsavoury. Especially since the thug in question, one Jason Bennetts, was convicted of a horribly violent crime. The 20-year-old was part of a gang who

kicked a grandfather to death in Truro two years ago - in spite of which a murder charge against him was reduced to "violent disorder".

What really takes the cake is that his sentence was reduced from just 14 months to 13 to enable

him to take up a job at the Newquay branch of Fifteen, where Oliver trains the disaffected to man

a top kitchen. He is due to fetch up there any day now, and Katie Brown, the daughter of victim

John Smyth is not impressed> "It's disgusting," she told the Sun. "I am horrified that one of(the gang) has had his sentenced reduced so he can go and work for Jamie Oliver."