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Restaurant owner sent to prison for causing customer's fatal allergic reaction

LONDON, ENGLAND — A British man was sentenced to six years in prison on Monday after being convicted of manslaughter because a customer at his Indian restaurant died of a peanut allergy.

Restaurant owner Mohammed Zaman was found guilty at Teesside Crown Court for his role in bar manager Paul Wilson's death.

Wilson had ordered a chicken tikka masala takeout meal from the 53-year-old Zaman's restaurant in 2014 and told the staff about his allergy to peanuts.

He died shortly after eating the meal at his home when he went into severe anaphylactic shock.

Prosecutors said Zaman replaced almond powder in his recipes with a cheaper mix that included peanuts. They said he was in debt and put profits before customer safety.

It also emerged in court that a teenager had been hospitalized after eating food from another of Zaman's restaurants after being told it did not contain nuts.

Zaman said he left managers in charge and wasn't at the restaurant at the time.

Detective Sean Page with the North Yorkshire Police said, "Mr. Zaman acted totally recklessly. He showed no regard for his customers, public safety or even authorities that were trying to help him and show him how he should operate his business."

Paul Wilson's mother, Margaret Wilson, wants restaurants to take this form of nut allergy much more seriously:  "Be aware of that and follow that through to the letter and for allergy sufferers, peanut sufferers, to take more care, to take note from Paul's death."

The Associated Press contributed to this story.