CCTV catches restaurant fraudster releasing rat

SUNDERLAND, England, March 23 (UPI) -- Security camera footage from a British restaurant recorded the moment a man set his pet rat on the ground in an attempt to scam a free meal.

Christopher Baker, 28, pleaded guilty in Sunderland Magistrates' Court to a charge of fraud by false representation after he released his pet rat at the Borneo Bistro in Sunderland, England, on Valentine's Day and demanded a refund for his meal.

Kevin Smith, the restaurant's owner, said he reviewed security footage after noticing the black and white rat seemed suspiciously clean and tame.

"Mr. Smith perhaps smelled a rat at this particular point and he retrieved the rat from the floor. It was a black and white rat, very calm. It did not appear to be wild at all. Acorn Pest Control attended and they said it appeared to be a pet," prosecutor Lee Poppett said. "Mr. Smith viewed the CCTV and saw the defendant fiddling in his pocket. He waited until a family moved from the table next to him and retrieved what appeared to be a rat from his pocket and dropped it on the floor. He then jumped out of his seat."

The court heard Baker later told police the rat was a gift for his daughter and had bitten his finger and escaped his pocket accidentally.

Smith had harsh words for Baker after the trial.

"He is just the scum of the earth," Smith told the Sunderland Echo. "He could have destroyed the reputation I have built up over seven years. I was devastated. I thought 'that's it my business is gone.' I didn't sleep that night."

"People like him deserve the death penalty. As far as I'm concerned, he shouldn't be in our society," Smith said. "He is no use to anybody and he's caused nothing but grief. I find it unbelievable that someone could be willing to go to those lengths for a free meal."