Mother-of-four who found dead caterpillar in an Aldi tin of tomatoes was sent a £10 voucher when she complained - so she spent it on a FUNERAL for the critter

• Stephanie Harris, 34, discovered creature in tin of Sweet Harvest tomatoes
• She had been cooking a stew and found caterpillar, which she named Cecil
• Mrs Harris was sent a £10 goodwill voucher from supermarket chain
• She said she would put some of it towards a wake for the caterpillar 

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A mother-of-four who discovered a dead caterpillar in her tin of tomatoes from Aldi spent the £10 voucher she was sent as an apology on a funeral for the creature.

Teaching assistant Stephanie Harris, 34, had discovered the two-inch long dead caterpillar when she opened up the Sweet Harvest-branded tin to make a beef stew for her family.

Mrs Harris, from Goldthorpe, South Yorkshire was sent a £10 goodwill voucher, which she said she would put towards a wake for the caterpillar, which she has named Cecil.

She was cooking the contents of the tin of plum tomatoes she saw something floating on the surface and discovered it was caterpillar.

'I had opened the tin of tomatoes and was cutting them while giving my husband the deadeye for not buying already chopped ones and as I was boiling them in the pan I see this floating thing, fished it out and there was this caterpillar,' said Mrs Harris.

'I just burst out laughing and decided to call him Cecil after the nursery rhymes. I chucked the tomatoes away though as I didn't feel like eating them after trying to boil Cecil.

'I thought it was a white stalk or some massive seeds, It just kept coming and coming and then I realised what it was so I put it on the draining board and thought I would share it with my Facebook friends because it made me chuckle.

'I have had a mixed response from "ewww" to "hahahaha" but I had to draw the line at them calling the poor little guy gross.

'It didn't bother me so much because I wasn't eating it, so I mainly thought it was funny. Mind you my husband thought it was funny. With my cooking, a caterpillar was probably the last of his worries.'

'I think Cecil was hiding in one of them, we have a few theories, Cecil was an immigrant from Italy - maybe nobody told him about the EU - or he was trying to re-enact James and the Giant Peach but got confused.'

'No harm was done and it probably would have tasted better with him in it, but it wasn't just the husband eating it, the girls were too. I couldn't do that to my kids.'

Mrs Harris, who lives with husband Dennis, 48, arranged a wake for the insect, and held a funeral for him - putting the body into a matchbox with Cecil's name on it before 'cremating' him on top of the can.  

She even took to Aldi's Facebook page to inform them of the unexpected ingredient, writing: 'Most people get spiders, snakes etc. I get a caterpillar!! Come on Aldi, can I have a living breathing leopard gecko next, poor Cecil drowned in tomato juice!'

Mrs Harris, who bought the four pack of tinned tomatoes for around a £1 said she the incident hasn't put her off shopping at Aldi in the future.

She said: 'I think Cecil popped out when I cut the tomato open, so just check your food. In any case, I might find something more interesting next time.'

Aldi apologised to Mrs Harris via a Facebook message, writing: 'We're really sorry to see this.'

Mother-of-four who found dead caterpillar in an Aldi tin of tomatoes was sent a £10 voucher when she complained - so she spent it on a FUNERAL for the critter