LONDON (AP) — A British chef's appeal for thieves to return 2,500 pies that were in a stolen van ended in disappointment Tuesday when police found the vehicle abandoned, with its savory cargo too damaged to eat.
Tommy Banks, who owns two Michelin-starred restaurants and a pub in the northern English county of Yorkshire, said a member of staff discovered the van was missing, along with its cargo of steak and ale, turkey and butternut squash pies intended for a Christmas market in the city of York. The food has been valued at 25,000 pounds ($32,000).
Banks said the van was insured, but he implored the vehicle thieves not to let the food go to waste. In an Instagram video, he suggested they “do the right thing” and drop the pies at a community center or other venue.
In an update, Banks said police had found the van, badly damaged and with stolen license plates, in Middlesbrough, about 30 miles (50 km) from where it was taken. He said the pies were still inside but were damaged and would have to be discarded.
“It’s just so much waste. It’s just rubbish,” Banks said in a video on Instagram. “Sorry, it’s not a happier ending to this story.”
The pie heist is the latest theft of artisanal edibles to rock the U.K. food trade. In October, nearly 1,000 wheels of cloth-wrapped artisanal cheddar weighing 22 metric tons (48,488 pounds) and valued at 300,000 pounds ($390,000) were swiped from London’s Neal’s Yard Dairy by a con artist posing as a wholesale distributor for a major French retailer.
Despite a hunt by British and international police — and an appeal by TV chef Jamie Oliver — the cheese has not been found. A 63-year-old man was arrested and questioned by police, but has not been charged.
This undated handout photo shows Tommy Banks' pies. (Tommy Banks via AP)
This undated handout photo shows one of Tommy Banks' pies. (Tommy Banks via AP)
Debbie Nelson, the single mother of rapper Eminem whose rocky relationship with her son was known widely through his hit song lyrics, has died. She was 69.
Eminem’s longtime representative Dennis Dennehy confirmed Nelson’s death in an email on Tuesday. He did not provide a cause of death, although Nelson had battled lung cancer.
Nelson’s fraught relationship with her son, whose real name is Marshall Mathers III, has been no secret since the Detroit rapper became a star.
Eminem has disparaged his mother in songs such as the 2002 single “Cleaning Out My Closet.” Eminem sings: “Witnessin’ your mama poppin’ prescription pills in the kitchen. ... My whole life I was made to believe I was sick when I wasn’t.”
In lyrics from his Oscar-winning hit “Lose Yourself” from the movie “8 Mile,” his feelings seem to have simmered, referencing his "mom’s spaghetti.” The song went on to win best rap song at the 2004 Grammy Awards.
Nelson brought and settled a pair of defamation lawsuits over Eminem’s statements about her in magazines and on radio talk shows. In her 2008 book, “My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem,” she attempted to set the record straight by providing readers details about the rapper’s early life, writing that Eminem had forgotten the good times they had.
“Marshall and I were so close that friends and relatives commented that it was as if the umbilical cord had never been cut,” she wrote.
In 2004, she was dragged from her car on Eight Mile Road, the street in a Detroit suburb made famous by “8 Mile,” by a 16-year-old who was later sentenced to more than four years in prison. She suffered bruises and a broken foot.
The highly acclaimed rapper Eminem won for best hip hop act at the 2024 MTV EMAs and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022.
He announced in October that he was going to be a grandfather, saying his daughter Hailie Jade is pregnant by way of a touching music video that is a tribute to their relationship.
The story has been updated to correct that Eminem announced in October that he was going to be a grandfather, not last month.
FILE - Debbie Nelson, mother of rap star Eminem, appears in Mount Clemens, Mich., on April 10, 2001. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)
