Well-known celebrity chef Jamie Oliver took to his Instagram page last week in a plea for anyone with any information about a cheese ‘heist’ in the UK.

He told his followers that 22t of English and Welsh cheddar is now on the loose and being sold out of lorries for well below its market value.

The cheese seller, Neal’s Yard Dairy in London was conned by scammers and delivered more than 950 wheels of the artisan cheese to the fraudsters who said they were wholesale distributors.

Oliver himself said that the cheddar in its entirety is worth around £300,000.