Suspended jail sentence after bread basket misuse

Windmill Bakery director Akhlaque Ahmed could face six weeks in jail, after admitting to three allegations of unlawfully being in possession of bakery baskets and dollies belonging to the bakery equipment supplier. The sentence was suspended for an indefinite term.

Ahmed will serve the prison term should he breach the injunction again, plus a further confinement following a further offence. He was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay costs of £5,664.50 within 21 days.

Bakers Basco general manager Steve Millward said he hoped that Ahmed had “learnt his lesson”​ and this would be the end of Windmill Bakery’s misuse of Basco’s equipment.

‘A costly lesson’​

“It’s been a costly lesson, though – he’s had to pay nearly £14,000 in fines, damages and costs in the last year alone, and he’s been given a suspended jail sentence,”​ said Millward.

“It would have been a lot cheaper for him if he had just bought his own baskets – and he wouldn’t be facing the possibility of spending weeks in jail.” ​

The original injunction against Ahmed was imposed in February 2013 and amended in 2015, preventing him from using bakery baskets and dollies belonging to Bakers Basco and its membership without written permission.

He appeared in court in August last year for breaking these terms and issued a fine for £2,000 and ordered to pay costs of £3,330. Ahmed was also warned that he could face prison if he broke the terms again.

Millward added: “If people use our equipment without permission, that’s little better than theft, in our eyes. And anyone who says it’s a ‘victimless crime’ couldn’t be more wrong.​

‘Thoughtless, selfish, greedy people’​

“The bakeries that pay to license our equipment, the retailers that sell their products and the shoppers who rely on them for their daily bread all end up paying extra for the actions of a small number of thoughtless, selfish, greedy people.”​

Bakers Basco has taken a number of businesses to court over the misuse of its equipment.

In May, two chicken processing businesses were ordered to pay almost a combined £20,000 in damages and costs to Bakers Basco,​ for using its equipment without permission.

Meanwhile, in February, Bristol-based Anstee’s Bakery had to pay more than £5,000 in costs and damages to Basco,​ for unauthorised use of its bread baskets.