CHEF Jamie Oliver has reportedly defended his decision to employ a convicted child rapist at one of his restaurants.
David Mason,24, has been given a job as an apprentice chef at Jamie's Fifteen restaurant, despite a conviction for forcing himself on a 12-year-old girl while they played computer games.
Mason, from Feltham in West London, was 19 when he raped the girl and was sentenced to four years in a young offenders' institution after admitting the crime.
He served two years and spent two more doing probation work before he started the year-long apprentice programme six weeks ago.
However, despite criticism of the decision a spokesman for Oliver last night is reported to have said: "He was completely honest about his past when he applied and we decided that, as he'd served his sentence, he should be allowed a place on the programme.
'It is not unusual for us to work with people who want to try to turn their lives around. David spent two years in prison and two years doing probationary work with the Prince's Trust, so four years of punishment.
'We took great care deciding whether he was appropriate and he is six weeks into the course and doing very well.'
Jamie Oliver is set to open his brand new Jamie's Trattoria restaurant in Chelmsford High Street on Monday (October 20).
