Oliver offers tasty £150,000 to nab parents’ pub raiders

TV CHEF Jamie Oliver is offering a £150,000 (€220,000) reward to help catch the robbers who stole £10,000 (€14,700) from his parents’ pub.

Five men armed with baseball bats and hammers raided The Cricketers at Clavering, Essex, which is owned by Oliver’s mother and father, Trevor and Sally.

The gang attacked at around 11pm on Sunday as the pub was closing and made off with cash from a till and a safe.

A spokesman for the chef said Oliver, on a business trip in America, would hand over the money to anyone who could produce information that would lead to an arrest and conviction.

He added: “He is angry. He grew up in the pub and started to learn to cook there. These guys have gone in armed with a hammer, scared customers, scared staff and pushed an elderly member of staff to the floor.

“He’s offering £150,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of any of these people responsible.”

Oliver talks about growing up at the pub on his website, where he describes The Cricketers as “lovely”.

His father has appeared with him on television.

“My dad runs a lovely pub-restaurant, The Cricketers, in Clavering, Essex, where I grew up,” writes the chef. “I remember being fascinated by what went on in the kitchen. It just seemed such a cool place, everyone working together to make this lovely stuff and having a laugh doing it.”

Police said they had no evidence to suggest that the pub had been targeted because of its celebrity link. They said the raiders escaped in a dark saloon car.

Witnesses said one spoke with a South African accent and two in “unknown” foreign languages.