Beef farmer John Richard Thackray’s mad cow fine

7:00am Friday 23rd February 2007

A FARMER broke laws designed to prevent animals infected with mad cow disease from entering the food chain.

John Richard Thackray, 53, sent a cow to be slaughtered at Anglo Beef Processors in Murton, near York, on August 3 last year, a court heard.

But the animal, an Aberdeen Angus cross heifer, did not have the relevant documentation - namely a passport showing its date of birth.

When Thackray, who pleaded guilty, was told this he sent a passport to the abattoir with a "default birth date" of November 11, 1111. Officials spotted it, investigated and they found the cow was actually born before July 1, 1996.

It is illegal to slaughter cows born on or before this date for human consumption in case it is infected with mad cow disease.

Colin Rumford, City of York Council's head of environmental health and trading standards, told York Magistrates Court that Thackray admitted the charge and said his only explanation was that he had not checked the animal's details before taking it to slaughter.

Mr Rumford said Thackray, who farms at Harewood, near Leeds, had a previous conviction for a similar offence last year when he appeared at court on November 9 for presenting an animal for slaughter with a false passport.

Mitigating, Jonathan Leach said Thackray had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and had co-operated fully with the investigation.

Mr Leach said Thackray had made a genuine mistake and would not have attempted to send the animal to slaughter without the necessary documentation on purpose as he knows the checks that are made.

He said the 53-year-old had been a farmer all his life and at any one time had 4,000 sheep and 1,000 head of cattle on his farm. Since this case, he said Thackray now checks all his livestock have the necessary tags and passport as soon as they arrive at his farm.

Thackray's wife also uses a computer system to keep track of all the cattle on the farm and their respective ages. More fundamentally, Mr Leach said, Thackray no longer bought cattle above a certain age.

Fiona Holland, the chairman of the magistrates, said the bench took a "very serious view" of the matter.

She said: "It has happened before on your premises and it's our duty to protect the public as it is yours, particularly from the spread of this horrendous disease."

Thackray was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £315.96 court costs.