A Canadian baker has claimed the top title at the World Pasty Championships, using skills he learnt from his Cornish mother.

Gerry Ramier from St Catherine’s, Ontario, runs the Piskie Pie Company with his wife Marlee. He claimed victory in the hotly-contested Cornish Pasty Professional class at The World Pasty Championships.

Gerry and Marlee were making their debut at the World Pasty Championships, less than a year after opening their pasty shop.

They had also travelled to Cornwall to visit Gerry’s mother, Melanie, who lives in Redruth and taught Gerry how to make pasties.

Gerry won with a score of 96 out of 100, the joint highest score in the 2017 competition.

Ramier said: “I’m overwhelmed and it’s a little mind-boggling to be honest. I didn’t expect that whatsoever. My mother will be pretty excited – we’re going to head straight over there and tell her.”

He added: “We’ll definitely be back next year. We’ll be trying to up our game, but I don’t know where we can go from here!”

Cornish Premier Pasties of St Columb swept the board in the Company categories, taking the top awards in the two classes; Open Savoury (a red Thai chicken pasty) and Cornish.

Director Fiona Rick said: “I’m absolutely stunned and delighted. I really love our Red Thai Chicken pasty. Everyone at Cornish Premier Pasties will be so pleased.”

Don McKeever retained his title in the Open Savoury Amateur category with his “Boeuf BourguignDon” and said: “It’s a shock to retain my title, I didn’t think I could do it again.”

David Timmins from St Columb took the Open Savoury Professional class, for pasties not baked the traditional Cornish way. David’s score of 96 out of 100 was the joint highest in the competition with Gerry Ramier.

Winner of the new Gluten-Free Amateur category was Samantha Burgess from Middlewich in Cheshire.