Retired pilot caught stealing European tableware (5,3)

'tableware' is the definition.
(cruet set means tableware items for condiments)

'retired pilot caught stealing european' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'retired' could be 'r' (abbreviation) and 'r' is found in the answer.
'caught' could be 'c' (cricket abbreviation) and 'c' is located in the answer.
'european' could be 'e' (abbreviation e.g. EU) and 'e' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...