THE jobless chef who spent £3,500 in 12 days at a Chinese takeaway has spoken publicly for the first time.

Shane Wiggins blamed the stress of dealing with his sick mother and epileptic brother for bouncing cheques to pay for the food and soft drink mountain.

Wiggins, 19, of Lansdown Road, Canterbury, admitted defrauding the Lucky Star takeaway at Aylesham on nine separate occasions in late March and early April.

He admitted he was "going through problems at the moment". "I know I should not have done what I did but I had to feed my family," he said.

Mr Wiggins said the cheques were never questioned by delivery staff and the restaurant only phoned him after the 12-day period.

"I wasn’t even using a cheque guarantee card and the restaurant should have spotted it earlier."

* See Thursday's Kentish Gazette for the full story.