Foot and Mouth Lawyers Allege Ministry Cover-up

Peter Hetherington, regional affairs editor
Wednesday April 17, 2002

Lawyers acting for rural businesses devastated by the foot and mouth epidemic are pressing the government to exhume diseased sheep in an attempt to prove that the former Ministry of Agriculture tried to cover up the disease.

Allegations that several infected sheep from a farm at Aberdare, in Mid Glamorgan, were buried four months before foot and mouth was officially declared form a central part of a £2bn compensation claim to recover losses sustained during the seven-month outbreak.

In addition lawyers, who will serve the government with notice of their intent to sue for substantial damages this Friday, are claiming that other sheep with foot and mouth - or with antibodies - were found at an abattoir in Staffordshire in January last year along with another big consignment bound for France. The outbreak was officially confirmed at the end of February.

Stephen Alexander, of London solicitors Class Law, who are acting for 25,000 claimants in the UK Rural Business Campaign, said they had evidence that an official from the former Maff told a farmer in Aberdare to bury diseased sheep in October 2000.

He claimed this underlined arguments of a cover-up. "It shows that the disease was in the system and that the government didn't do anything about it and there are other examples ... we are building up evidence that it was around in significant amounts before January." Specialists were on hand to check for signs of foot and mouth in exhumed animals.

With the government refusing to hold a public inquiry into the epidemic, Class Law - who were recently successful in helping Railtrack shareholders force a government u-turn in compensating small investors - are demanding the disclosure of a series of documents, statements and instructions relating to the outbreak from the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

If the government refuses, the lawyers will launch an action in the high court at which key officials and ministers blamed for failing to control the outbreak will face allegations of "negligence" and being in breach of their statutory duty.

Class Law believes compensation claims for thousands of affected businesses, mainly non-farming ventures such as hotels and other tourist enterprises, could amount to £2bn. If the government was forced to cave in, the cost of the disease to the taxpayer could be more than doubled. Last December the Treasury said it had already forked out an extra £2.7bn, with up to 10 million animals slaughtered.

The UK Rural Business Campaign has already raised over £2m to fight the government. Val Sinclair, a committee member who runs a pub and restaurant in Shropshire, said last night that many businesses had failed to recover from the impact of the outbreak. With some going bankrupt, others were having to service massive bank loans to keep them going. She had lost up to £100,000.

"The countryside is simply not getting back to normal and we are determined to fight for compensation because the government sent out all the wrong signals when the disease struck," she added.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/footandmouth/story/0,7369,685792,00.html