A drunk hotel boss was caught on CCTV urinating on fruit and vegetables at a village shop after leaving a wellness retreat in Cornwall.

Hotel director Matthew Howarth had travelled from Windemere in the Lake District for the retreat in Bude, before he visited the nearby village of Stratton. 

He appeared at the Stratton Stores village shop, where he was caught on camera taking a wee on parsnips, nectarines and potatoes that were being kept in dry storage.

Howarth was later arrested after being caught drink driving his Ford Ranger. He was more than twice over the legal limit.

He was convicted of driving a motor vehicle above the legal limit and criminal damage at Truro Magistrates’ Court.

Howarth was told by a court that Cornwall did not want people like him in their county.

David Shepherd, manager of Stratton Stores was alerted to Howarth’s presence by members of staff at the shop. 

After leaving the wellness retreat, Howarth had been seen walking around the village after ‘downing some gins’ in a local pub.

Michael Howarth was caught on CCTV urinating on fruit and vegetables at a village shop

Owner David Shepherd was horrified when he reviewed the CCTV footage at his shop

David told MailOnline: ‘He came up to the shop and he was clearly intoxicated.

‘My staff had phoned me up, asking if they could close the shop because they were worried about him.

‘He was acting strangely. An hour before he had been hanging around the hairdressers nearby and speaking to people in the street, slurring and making no sense.

‘When I arrived at the shop, the staff told me he had just got into a car and driven off.’ 

Concerned about the man’s state, David got into his car to follow the man.

He quickly realised that the hotel owner was over the limit and driving drunk.

‘I got into my car and followed him,’ David said, ‘I had the police on the phone at the same time.

‘He was all over the road, stopping in the middle, swerving between lanes and driving on the wrong side.

Hotel boss Matthew Howarth was fined 

‘Eventually he drove up a cul-de-sac and reached a dead end, police managed to catch up and arrested him.’

Following the arrest, David returned to his shop and was concerned about the Howarth’s behaviour.

He checked the shop’s CCTV in order to see if his staff had ‘been harassed’ by Howarth when he came to the shop.

Instead, he was horrified to discover a video of the man urinating on fruit and vegetables which had been stored at the side of the shop, intended for sale in the future.

David added: ‘I noticed just at the side of the shop, there is an alleyway where we keep spare fruit and veg. He had walked down there and urinated on it all.

‘He had just left a  pub with a toilet and there is a toilet block just 50 metres from the shop.

‘How drunk have you got to be? It was broad daylight at around 5.30pm in the evening.

‘I mean we have all been drunk but never anything like that.’

Howarth had walked down the side of the shop, where extra fruit and veg were being stored

David said it was lucky that the CCTV had been checked, as the parsnips, potatoes and nectarines were due to be put out for sale to customers.

He said: ‘We had seen that the boxes were wet, but we didn’t think it would have been wee. It is good we checked.’

At Truro Magistrates’ Court, Howarth was fined £2,237 including £42 compensation for the ruined fruit and veg.

He admitted drink driving and causing criminal damage and was banned from driving for 46 months, as this was his second similar offence in ten years, Cornwall Live reported. 

Father of two Howarth told the court: ‘I have trouble with alcohol. I have not drunk since this incident. I was at a wellness retreat but things did not work out. I apologise, I admit fault.’ 

But the Justice of Peace said his behaviour had been vile adding that he was lucky he had not been locked up for six weeks. 

They said: ‘Your utterly vile offending is one of the most disgusting things we have heard in this courtroom. Professional people in this room, their faces were horrified by your offending.

‘We don’t want people coming down to our county acting in such a disgusting way.’

David echoed the sentiments from the court, saying that he should have respected the county ‘like his home’.

He added: ‘There is no way I would allow him back in here.’