Thorntons, the upmarket chocolate shops chain, has finally found a replacement master chocolatier after its previous one was forced to resign when he was spotted squidging truffles in a rival's shop.

Barry Colenso quit Thorntons last October after he was captured on CCTV "handling truffles in a suspicious manner" by staff at Hotel Chocolat.

It was claimed that he had "mercilessly squashed truffle after truffle" from the £63.20-a-pound range.

Now Thorntons has appointed one of the country's top chocolate maestros as his replacement.

Keith Hurdman, who trained in Belgium, Switzerland and France, joins from Melt Chocolates and was previously corporate pastry chef at rocco Forte Hotels.

Chief executive Mike Davies said: "We are delighted to have appointed Keith, who has world-class standing.

"Thorntons has perhaps suffered from too much corporate activity over the past few years and not concentrated enough on the marketing and developing of chocolates."

Industry analysts say Thorntons had lost its position among the top-end chocolate makers but has relaunched more foodie-style shops and chocolate bars and products.

Davies said of the Colenso incident: "That was almost a year ago and is well behind us now."