A RESTAURANT owner has escaped a court fine for poor kitchen hygiene after inspectors found he had cleaned up his act.

Giampaolo Silesu, 35, was handed a six-month conditional discharge after environmental health inspectors told the court that standards at Il Paradiso del Cibo had "improved considerably".

Speaking after the hearing, Silesu said: "I am very pleased with the verdict."

He was sentenced at York Magistrates Court for six offences at his Walmgate Italian eatery.

Silesu had previously pleaded guilty to the three charges of breaching food hygiene rules and three offences of failing to carry out kitchen improvement notices served by City of York Council.

In June, 2005, an environmental health officer had found problems including:

* Raw meat stored with prepared food.

* Evidence of smoking at the back of the premises.

* A build-up of food debris and dirt on storage and preparation areas.

* Grease on the walls and ceilings.

* A hair in some frozen basil.

* Staff did not have proper hand-washing facilities and were not wearing proper catering clothing.

The council's food safety unit served an improvement notice in August, 2005, but by December that year, Silesu had not carried out the necessary work, though he had improved cleanliness and done some minor work.

However, the court heard that Silesu had since carried out more improvements and cleaned up his act.

Prosecuting, Stephen Adamthwaite, City of York Council's principal environmental health officer, said Silesu had brought the establishment up to scratch.

He said: "We visited the premises last week and found standards had improved considerably. It was up to a satisfactory standard."

The court had earlier heard that Silesu had had financial problems when he set up the restaurant, after a business partner left the firm.

He also suffered a catastrophic flood that had cost him £20,000, had to re-mortgage his home and was also preoccupied with his mother's fight against cancer that meant he took frequent trips to his native Italy.

Sentencing him, district judge Martin Walker said: "He had been put in very considerable difficulty by a partner leaving the business, leaving him very considerable debts and problems. He was struggling to maintain his establishment as he should. It appears to me that it was not by way of intention that he flouted the law.

He was a man who was suffering under serious problems and really struggling."

He also ordered Silesu to pay £500 in prosecution costs.