Catalogue of filth

Harrogate magistrates backed a request for an emergency prohibition order banning all animal slaughtering at Upper Austby Farm, Langbar, after watching a shocking videotape made during last week's operation.

Two men were also arrested when police backed up the Trading Standards led raid on Thursday, July 17, which involved Bradford and Harrogate Environmental Health officers and members of the Department for the Environ-ment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Meat Hygiene Service.

Hearing the request from Harrogate Council on Tuesday, magistrates were shown a 25 minute film documenting a catalogue of filth uncovered in the unlicensed slaughterhouse.

Shot by North Yorkshire Trading Standards officers, it showed in graphic detail the appalling conditions at the building being used by farm owner Benjamin Harold Gray and his son, Michael, as an abattoir.

Giving a running commentary, Meat Hygiene Service veterinary adviser Michael Eyre said he was convinced the set-up posed 'an imminent and significant risk to public health'.

Among the hygiene breaches pointed out by Mr Eyre were:

l A dead sheep left where it lay in the faeces-covered internal 'waiting area' of the abattoir, watched by a distressed and emaciated live animal.

l Joints of meat, intended for human consumption, left on blood, fat and rust-stained wooden chopping boards, with fly eggs visible on the meat.

l A slow-flowing 'open sewer' running through the entire slaughterhouse, blocked with faeces, blood and rotting fat, which connected to a toilet - meaning uncovered human waste flowed directly beneath meat chopping areas.

l Poultry and dog faeces on the floors, windowsills and walls, and an 'abundance' of flies.

l Badly rusted and dirty slaughtering equipment including an 'absolutely filthy' saw, knives and hooks.

l A live duck wandering over the sheep carcasses, and a hen perched higher up in the slaughterhouse.

The Court also saw a Ford Transit van parked at the entrance/exit to the building which was full of sheep stomachs, heads, intestines, limbs - and 'notifiable risk material', which is meant to be disposed of following strict rules.

Harrogate Environmental He-alth officer Sarah Milburn said the vehicle was in a disgusting state.

" The smell was putrid. The van had not been cleaned for some time and it was crawling, in places, with maggots."

Mr Eyre told the court that such unhygienic conditions posed an "imminent and significant" risk to public health through allowing the spread, and entry into the human food chain, of such potentially fatal bacteria as toxic E-Coli.

Concluding a long list of concerns, he said: "The most important thing is that there is no inspection of the meat to detect certain conditions which carcasses should be rejected for."

Ms Milburn said the raid had come about because of a tip-off from Bradford Council that they had seized meat at a Keighley butcher's shop which had been slaughtered at the farm.

Representing Harrogate Coun-cil, Iain MacDonald told the bench that he believed Upper Austby had never been granted a slaughtering licence.

Notification of the emergency shut-down order, which bans all slaughtering operations at the farm, had been served personally to Mr Gray senior on Friday, July 18, when a copy for his son was also handed to him.

Neither appeared in court.

Chairman of the magistrates bench David Gravells said he had 'no hesitation whatsoever' in granting the order.

"We can scarcely imagine animals being held and slaughtered in such revolting conditions with the consequent risk to the health of the public," he said.

He also ordered that the Grays should pay Harrogate Council's costs of £3,006.

Officers investigate animal cruelty

NORTH Yorkshire Trading Standards have confirmed that investigations into allegations of cruelty are underway following last week's raid at Upper Austby Farm.

The multi-agency operation, led by Trading Standards officers, uncovered four animals at the site, near Ilkley, which were in such poor condition they had to be put down.

The raid followed claims made by the Sunday Mirror that it had video evidence of an illegal slaughterhouse being run, and animal cruelty being perpetrated, at the site.

Acting on that information, Brad-ford Council then informed Trading Standards of meat seized at a Keighley butcher's shop which had been prepared at Upper Austby.

A joint statement from Bradford and Harrogate Councils following the operation said: "Two people have been arrested suspected of animal cruelty in a multi-agency raid on a farm at Langbar, near Ilkley.

"The raid, on Thursday, July 17, followed an investigation by Environ-mental Health enforcement officers from Harrogate Borough Council and Bradford Council, North Yorkshire County Council Trading Standards, DEFRA and the Meat Hygience Service.

"Representatives of all five agencies took part with the help of 25 North Yorkshire Police officers. They carried out a thorough search of the premises for evidence of unlicensed slaughtering operations.

"The search uncovered evidence which would cause a serious health risk.

"A number of animals were found

to be in such a poor condition

that they had to be humanely slaughtered."

The assistant head of North Yorkshire Trading Standards, Graham Venn, confirmed that farm owner Benjamin Harold Gray, and his son Michael John Gray, were arrested during the raid.

Mr Venn said: "Allegations of cruelty and animal welfare are being

investigated.

"What happened at Harrogate Magistrates Court on Tuesday was a civil matter which was brought quickly because there was a food safety issue and an emergency prohibition order had to be put on Mr Gray quickly to stop him carrying on. But there are a number of other alleged offences which we and the other agencies are looking into.

"These include illegal slaughtering, cruelty and animal welfare issues,

disposals of animal by-products, including notifiable risk material, and suspected environmental pollution.

"They all have to be dealt with and investigated."

Mr Gray senior, who is known by his middle name, Harold, told the Ilkley Gazette in June that he had been

running his slaughterhouse for 30 years.

Insisting it was licensed and inspected by Government agency vets and Trading Standards, Mr Gray also claimed the abattoir was 'spotless' and 'looked a picture'.

He and his son have been released on police bail following questioning. They are due to appear at Harrogate Police Station on September 11.