A CELL FOR TWO,SIR; Restaurant boss jailed.

Byline: By Ian Dow

A FORMER restaurateur to the royals was yesterday jailed for two months for buying stolen booze.

Daniel Wencker, 54, paid a man known as 'The Poacher' pounds 550 for the haul of rare wines and ports.

He admitted to police that he reckoned the true value was around pounds 15,000.

Police later arrested Edward Ingle for breaking into a country mansion and stealing the collection of alcohol, which a court was told was worth closer to pounds 20,000.

At Haddington Sheriff Court yesterday, Wencker, former owner of Edinburgh's renowned L'Auberge restaurant, looked stunned as he was jailed. He had pleaded guilty to a charge of reset - receiving stolen goods - at an earlier hearingThe haul was 10 bottles of port, 12 bottles of whisky, 93 bottles of wine and a bottle of champagne. The court was told the wine alone was so rare, it was usually only available at auctions.

It included six magnums of Chateau Palmer 1970 worth pounds 667 each, 12 bottles of Chateau Dontrose 1990 worth pounds 4000 and 12 bottles of Chateau Cheval Blanc 1990 worth pounds 2500.

Wencker, 54, who now runs upmarket Daniel's Bistro in Leith, told police he bought the wine from Ingle, who he knew as The Poacher.

Ingle, 37, who had previously sold venison and fish to the bistro, broke into the wine store at Stevenson House, Haddington, East Lothian, in January and carted the booze away in a wheelbarrow.

Earlier this year, he was jailed for two months for the the break-in and theftAndrew Taylor, defending Wencker, said Ingle had told the restaurant owner the wine was from a clearance sale.

But sheriff George Presslie said: 'He was well aware he was supporting some form of dishonest transaction.

'In my judgment, there is no distinction between the resetter and the thief. The resetter is the motivation for the thief. Both deprive the rightful owner of their goods.

'Comparative justice dictates, since the thief was sentenced to two months, the sentence, given the value of the goods involved, is also two months.'

Wencker had faced a maximum sentence of three months and a pounds 5000 fine.

Atan earlier hearing, his solicitor said his client feared for the future of his restaurant and its 13 employees if he was jailed.

Yesterday, however, Wencker's accountant said Daniel's Bistro would stay open. Malcolm Duck, chairman of the Edinburgh Restaurateurs Association - of which Wencker was a founding member - last night defended his colleague.

Duck, proprietor of Ducks at Le Marche Noir in Edinburgh's New Town, said: 'We will help him get through this. He's a good man and a good restaurateur.

'He knows he's done wrong and regrets it. I think the sentence seems harsh.'

Wencker,originally from Alsace, France, lives in a Georgian flat in the New Town.

He ran L'Auberge during its 1980s heyday. It was close to the Palace of Holyroodhouse and often visited by members of the Royal Family, including Princess Anne and Prince Andrew and his then wife Fergie.

L'Auberge changed hands in the 90s

CAPTION(S):

SHAMED: Wencker; right, bought booze from Ingle, above, known as The Poacher