Dame Prue Leith recalls the horrific moment she drowned a bag full of kittens as a child

Dame Prue Leith has recalled the “traumatic” moment she drowned a litter of kittens as a child.

The Great British Bake Off judge, 82, penned the sad memory in her memoir I’ll Try Anything Once, writing that she and her mum dunked a bag of baby cats in water just hours after they were born.

She wrote: “My mom and I, then 11, had just drowned some kittens… and for weeks I’d been imagining those poor dead creatures.

Shocking: Dame Prue Leith, 82, has recalled the ‘traumatic’ moment she drowned a litter of kittens as a child

“Too many kittens were common, and one day my mother, unable to find a home for another litter, had come and decided to drown the last litter.

“My protests were met with a firm ‘Darling, it must be done. They’re only a few hours old. You’ll hardly know it’s happening.”

She added that her mother said all they had to do was hold the bag of kittens under the water briefly to send them “to sleep,” but that they “fought like hell for their lives.”

Throwback: The Great British Bake Off judge penned the sad memory in her memoir I’ll Try Anything Once

Dame Prue said her mother then changed her mind, but the television personality said they couldn’t stop, and she entertained the bag until the animals “stopped meowing.”

It comes after Dame Prue revealed she killed nearly 30 people with food poisoning.

The restaurant owner recalled the event from her early career when her company, Leith’s Good Food, hosted an event.

Kitchen Drama: It comes after Dame Prue revealed she killed nearly 30 people with food poisoning

she admitted that 28 people ended up in hospital and one man was left in critical condition after she served unsavory chicken mayonnaise.

On the first night of her Nothing In Moderation tour last month on stage in Bath, Dame Prue said: “He could have ended up in the morgue! You can’t be in the hospitality industry for 30 years without something going catastrophically wrong.”

She recalled her company being asked to put together a chicken mayonnaise dish for 25 people, but when five more diners came along, the dangerous mistake occurred.

Dame Prue told the audience, “The chefs poached another chicken while the meat was still warm, which is a crime, and they mixed in with the chicken that was already there.”

Flashback: The TV personality started her business in the 1960s and opened numerous restaurants and training businesses (pictured in 1985)

She went on to say the venue had no refrigeration and the food was left out on an exceptionally hot day.

“This chicken was sitting there and lunch was very late and we managed to poison everyone,” she said.

She continued: “I’m haunted by this episode as everyone has been sick. All but two of the 30 people ended up in hospital and one of them was in intensive care as he was very old and a High Court judge.”

‘He could have ended up in the morgue instead of the hospital. That was a wake up call.’

The television personality founded her company in the 1960s and opened numerous restaurants and training companies.

Screen star: Dame Prue stars alongside fellow Great British Bake Off judge Paul Hollywood (pictured) on the Channel 4 show