Marco Pierre White (centre right) leaves the Royal Courts of Justice in London accompanied by his children Marco White Jr (left) and Luciano White (right). Photo / Getty Images
Marco Pierre White (centre right) leaves the Royal Courts of Justice in London accompanied by his children Marco White Jr (left) and Luciano White (right). Photo / Getty Images
Police were able to identify Marco Pierre White’s son after CCTV footage showed the reality star’s heavily tattooed bottom as he fled the scene.
The son of Marco Pierre White, the Michelin-starred chef, was caught stealing after being identified by his distinctive tattoos when his trousers fell down.
Marco Pierre White Jr, a former reality TV personality and model with a lengthy criminal record, has now been jailed for 41 weeks.
The 29-year-old had broken into a delicatessen in the English city of Bath and took £250 ($517) from the till, as well as a charity box from the counter.
He had gained entry by smashing the window with a champagne bottle.
White Jr was seen in footage from the early hours of May 23 crawling through the window. His trousers appear to get caught on something and are pulled down, revealing his heavily tattooed backside.
Hooded and wearing orange work gloves, he rose to his feet and pulled up his trousers before walking off-camera into the courtyard in front of the Abbey Deli.
Police were able to match images of the tattoos to posts on White Jr’s Instagram account and identify him. He was arrested the same day following a raid on a property in Bath.
Jon Ison, 67, the owner of The Abbey Deli, told The Sun: “He broke in by smashing one of the window panes on the front door of the cafe with a champagne bottle.”
He said a charity box was taken from the counter and £250 stolen from the till, which was forced open with a spoon, despite the keys being “in plain sight”.
Ison added: “He probably thought he was in the clear but when he crawled back through the window, he got his tracksuit caught on the frame and accidentally mooned his bare backside right at our CCTV cameras.
Michelin star chef Marco Pierre White.
Police ‘just checked his ink on Instagram’
“Police knew straight away who it was because of his tattoos – all they had to do was check the photos of his ink on his Instagram feed to confirm their suspicions.”
White Jr admitted the offence when he appeared at Bristol magistrates’ court the day after the burglary, his 29th birthday.
Ison said it was the second time White Jr had broken into the cafe, the first incident taking place almost exactly a year ago, when around £650 was stolen.
He said: “The serious side of this burglary is that this kind of theft is a massive inconvenience for businesses in the area. Not only is there the cash that’s stolen but there’s also a big loss in trade as we were forced to close to carry out repairs.”
In 2022, White Jr pleaded guilty to 14 offences of shoplifting, possessing a knife, possessing heroin and a racially aggravated public order offence.
Marco Pierre White Jr. Photo / Getty Images
He was sentenced to 11 months, with 32 weeks of a previously suspended jail term to run consecutively.
In 2016, he appeared on the seventeenth series of Big Brother, where he admitted spending £250,000 of his father’s money on “prostitutes, cocaine and alcohol”.
A spokesman for Avon and Somerset Police said: “Following an investigation by police, Marco Xavier Pierre White was charged and appeared at Bristol magistrates’ court on May 24, 2024.
“At this hearing, the defendant pleaded guilty [and was] committed to prison for this and other offences for 41 weeks.”
