ENVIRONMENTAL health officers who were called to a Burnley takeaway found walls and floors covered with grease and dust and rodent droppings near a food preparation area, a court was told.

An uncovered tub of fat was in the back yard and the staff toilets were dirty, magistrates heard.

Mohammed Iqbal, the former joint owner of the Moonlight Takeaway in Croft Street, Burnley, was given a two year conditional discharge and ordered to pay £250 costs by Reedley magistrates yesterday after he admitted 18 counts of breaking food hygiene regulations.

The court was told the takeaway closed after the inspection by the Burnley Council environmental health officers and that Iqbal, 47, of Montague Street, Brierfield, had lost the £6,000 savings he put into the business. Two officers were called to the takeaway last June after the council's pest control section reported rats were seen in the yard. Iqbal allowed the officers to look round the premises and they found piles of builder's debris in the yard and the tub of fat.

Inside the officers discovered walls, floors and old catering equipment covered in dust and grease.

On the first and second floors there was dirty equipment and open sacks of sugar, flour and rice.

Nick Dearing, defending, said his client had been in catering for 32 years and this was the first time he had faced prosecution.

When he first took over the takeaway Iqbal only had access to the ground floor and much of the equipment on the other floors belonged to previous owners.

Mr Dearing went on: "He's guilty of general grubbiness rather than being guilty of poisoning anyone. There were no complaints from customers."

"He has lost his reputation, his savings and may well lose his house. He is obviously a man who has been brought very low by what's happened."