PUB landlady Frances Boehn has escaped being sent to jail for serving up putrid chicken for a nursery school, although magistrates told her it was a serious offence.

On Monday, Boehn, licensee of the Wheatsheaf pub in Chilton Foliat, was sentenced to 180 hours' community service.

The magistrates made no order for costs after hearing that 50-year-old Boehn has to leave the pub next Monday.

Marcus Sears, defending, said that Boehn and her husband had lost everything they had put into the pub when they took it over less than two and a half years ago and had accrued debts of £40,000.

Boehn shook with nerves throughout the 45 minute hearing at Andover magistrates court on Monday at which she admitted selling food that was unfit for human consumption.

Mr Sears said: "She has been absolutely mortified at these proceedings and it has made her physically ill through shame and worry.

"She has suffered many times over in respect of this offence."

Louise Hollily, prosecuting for Kennet District Council, said Boehn delivered the meal of chicken pieces to the Stepping Stones Nursery at Oakhill, Froxfield, on October 14 last year.

The Wheatsheaf had supplied meals to the pre-school under contract for some months.

Mrs Hollily said that when a member of the staff peeled back the foil covering the chicken pieces she detected a putrid smell.

Staff had started putting the chicken pieces on the children's plates when they decided it was unsafe to do so because of the smell and gave the children just vegetables for their lunch.

Boehn was telephoned and returned to the pre-school to collect the chicken dish while the school retained a sample.

Kennet environmental health officers Sam Colley and Trudy Hollister went to the school and collected the sample that staff had kept back. They noticed its putrid smell.

They then went to the Wheatsheaf and collected another sample from a fridge in the pub, noting that the fridge thermometer was not working.

Unlike the sample taken from the school the chicken taken from the pub had no detectable odour.

Mrs Hollily said Boehn subsequently admitted that the chicken supplied to the officers from the pub might not have been the same as that supplied to Stepping Stones.

Both samples were sent for analysis. The sample from the pub was satisfactory while the chicken taken from the school had an unsatisfactory level of bacteria.

The Kennet officers returned to the pub where Boehn told them that she had prepared the chicken pieces for the school because the pub cook was on a day off.

Mrs Hollily said: "She said she had re-heated the chicken and apologises for previously indicating it had been freshly cooked."

Mr Sears said: "She did not cook the chicken herself. She did prepare it on the day and thought she had prepared it in an appropriate manner. She genuinely thought that was how she had to do it.

"The chicken had been prepared the day before but instead of being put into the fridge it was put on top of the fridge. There was a delay in the chicken being put into the fridge and this could have started the process which caused the chicken to go off the following day."

Mr Sears said Boehn and her husband were due to leave the pub next Monday to go into rented accommodation and unless they could find work would have to apply for benefits.

He produced testimonials from a number of Chilton Foliat villagers about the way Boehn ran the pub.

Announcing sentence on Boehn, bench chairman Sarah Ingram-Hill said it was a very serious matter which had been reflected in the magistrates asking for all-options reports, including the possibility of prison.

She said Boehn had not only provided food that was unfit for human consumption but also to very young children.

She said the reason magistrates had not imposed a jail sentence was because of Boehn's very difficult personal circumstances.

The bench decided not to impose court costs or costs claimed by the council. Kennet District Council had asked for £664.74.