Rotting waste and overflowing bins were found at the back of a popular Wolverhampton city centre takeaway, a court heard this afternoon.

Environmental health officers found solidified waste, with grease and oil spilled over the floor to the rear of Hot N Spicy, in Broad Street.

Council officials served an enforcement notice demanding action be taken against to clean up the mess.

But at one stage, the property’s landlord had to intervene and clear up the mess himself, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

Mr Adem Muzzafer, prosecuting, said the mess caused “inconvenience” to other businesses and residents who lived above the shops.

But he said that the manager 34-year-old Imran Khan, of Aubrey Road, Small Heath, Birmingham, had not paid contractors who he had hired to remove the waste, which meant it was allowed to pile up.

The case was continuing this afternoon, when 20 charges relating to food hygiene and cleanliness on the site were due to be outlined before Recorder Mr Stephen Thomas.

The takeaway has been visited more than 100 times by environmental health officers over the years.

In 2008, Khan was handed a suspended prison sentence and a heavy fine after admitting 12 hygiene offences at his former business King Kebab.

He also pleaded guilty to two health and safety charges involving dangerous electrical wiring at the premises that were committed days after he had been fined £1,500 over the state of Hot N Spicy.

He was taken to court after a final check in 2007 discovered rat droppings, mould, dirty sink areas, tiles and floors that could not be cleaned properly.