THE owner of an Oldbury Fish and Chip shop put the health of customers at risk as he repeatedly failed to clean up the "filthy and disgusting" conditions.

Paul Kandola promised health inspectors he would put things right at Angelo's in Birmingham Road but instead they got worse, prosecutor Mark Jackson told Wolverhampton Crown Court.

He said there was a "catalogue" of deficiencies in the shop which constituted "ecoli territory" as the 35-year-old flagrantly disobeyed the law.

Inspectors made a string of visits to the shop but Kandola refused to accept their free advice because he was motivated by financial gain.

Judge Barry Berlin told Kandola:"This was not careless irresponsibility, it was done in the daily knowledge that the law was being broken and there was a real risk to the health of customers."

He added: "All it required was to roll up your sleeves and clean the place but that was never done. There was a high risk of conditions in the shop having an adverse effect on individuals."

The judge stressed members of the public had to be protected by the courts from the risks of their health being damaged and the culprits had to be punished.

He rejected pleas for the jail term to be suspended as he further barred Kandola from participating in the running of a food business until further order.

The judge said: "All it needed to put things right was a bit of elbow grease, the public expect places like this to be kept clean and safe so they do not have to suffer from the results."

Kandola, of Lower Comball, Tipton, admitted 22 charges of breaching hygiene regulations having been "out of his depth," said Gary Cook defending.

He told the court there had been some improvement after the visits by the health inspectors "but things slid again."

Mr Cook said Kandola failed to grasp the scrupulous regulations regarding the preparation of food and he accepted he failed to meet the require standards inside the shop.

Mr Jackson said there was no hot water in the shop so hands could be washed, there was an accumulation of dirt on the floor and walls, paint was flaking, the toilet opened directly into the food room and equipment was filthy.

He said the whisk used to make batter was dirty, there were broken tiles on the floor and the microwave was filthy.

There were numerous other faults and the inspectors were so concerned they told Kandola he had to agree to shut the shop or they would close it down.

Standards did then show some improvement but when the inspectors went back they found there was a foul smell from rotting fish, there was dirt and grease on food preparation areas and it was much worse than the previous visit.

The judge told Kandola: "You kept going when you knew perfectly well you should not have done. You carried on using these filthy premises and you put customers at risk."

He said it was "surprising" there had been no complaints about food poisoning but that could have been because customers may have felt there was another reason for their upset stomachs.

There was an "immense" risk to health, said the judge and the list of problems inside the shop just went on and on.

As he jailed Kandola for eight months, the judge concluded: "It should not have been too difficult to keep this place clean. This was a persistent and serious breach of regulations."