Updated 1.35pm

CELEBRITY CHEF ANTONY Worrall Thompson has apologised after he was reportedly arrested for removing cheese and wine from a Tesco store without paying.

The Sun reported today that the star of Ready Steady Cook was cautioned by police after he was accused of shoplifting five times in 16 days in the Henley-on-Thames Tesco branch in Oxfordshire.

Thompson – who is nicknamed Wozza – was allegedly putting some of the items under the scanner but putting others into his shopping bags without paying for them at the self-service checkout area. He has since apologised in a statement on his website this afternoon.

“I am so sorry for all my recent stupid and irresponsible actions; I am of course devastated for my family and friends, whom I’ve let down and will seek the treatment that is clearly needed,” he said in the statement.

While he made no direct reference to the items that were stolen they are said to have included cheese and wine according to The Sun although police would only say that they were “low value goods”, according to BBC News.

“I am not the first, and I certainly won’t be the last person to do something without rhyme or reason – what went through my head, only time will tell,” the chef went on to say while also apologising to the staff at the Tesco branch in Henley.

BBC also reports that 60-year-old Thompson, who starred in a series of I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, was issued with a formal caution for “shoplifting offences” according to police.