Bobby Waugh's Trial

Originally from: Farmtalking
                        
I have recieved another report of Bobby Waugh's trial, kindly sent by Bruce Jobson and copied below –

"The first week of Bobby Waugh's trial concluded at 4.15pm today. The prosecution witness testimony was provided by MAFF vets, Mr Mansley, Mr Dring and Dr Alexandersen from Pirbright.

Mr Jeremy Stuart-Smith QC (JSS) cross-examined the witnesses during the late afternoon. However, several details of interest have therefore gone unreported. This is due to the fact that the Press Association (and several local journalists in attendance) have had to regularly leave the court early in order to file copy for publication. On Thursday, proceedings finished at 5.15pm.

However, the graphic video footage, shown the previous day, showed one particular dead pig. This was later confirmed in court as having been put down by MAFF vets.

Of particular interest was the lengthy cross-examination by JSS of MAFF vet Mr Jim Dring. From a practical farming point of view, Mr Dring's evidence came under close-scrutiny in relation to the licensing of Mr Waugh's premises. Burnside had received its annual license inspection by Mr Dring on 24th January 2001 and received its official renewal on 30th January 2001.

Having seen the video evidence the previous day and the extremely untidy state of Burnside Farm, Mr Dring was continually requested by JSS, to explain as to how he had continued to licence the premises, and to explain as to how he had continued to file his six-monthly reports, over a number of many years, by 'ticking' the box marked, 'Satisfactory'

JSS went through the various requirements of the licensing procedure that Mr Dring had continued to mark as being, 'Satisfactory' . Mr Dring also confirmed that it wasn't unusual to find cutlery and crockery in pig pens, especially where the animals were fed on a (processed) swill-fed diet. Mr Dring also confirmed that he had authorised Mr Waugh to feed his pigs on unprocessed swill on Friday 23rd of February, as the pigs were subsequently due to be slaughtered over the weekend.

The video of the pigs and the cutlery within the pig pens was taken on the following day, Saturday 24th February. JSS suggested to Mr Dring that the unprocessed swill fed on 23rd February, containing various pieces of crockery and cutlery, had therefore resulted in various items being found in Mr Waugh's pens and troughs on the 24th February. But not all.

JSS also suggested to Mr Dring that he knew on or about 24th January, that Mr Waugh was feeding his herd by 'bailing' the swill into troughs, by bucket, rather than by pipeline-feeding. JSS suggested that Mr Dring had been informed on 24th January by Mr Waugh, that the pipeline system used to feed the pigs had 'frozen-up' and that the pigs were being fed by bucket. Mr Dring consistently denied that he knew of this arrangement.

On further cross-examination, Mr Dring stated that he had taken home a dictated statement that had been previously recorded (written) by Mr George Bird. Having taken the original statement home, Mr Dring rewrote the statement in order to use his own words to reflect greater accuracy of detail. Mr Dring, being a vet of 26 years experience, wanted his own precise wording and felt that George Bird had not accurately reflected Mr Dring's expert observation and interpretation.

Later in the afternoon, in open court, Mr Dring could not recollect as to how, in the previous written statement taken down by Mr George Bird, that the bucket-feeding operation was mentioned.

On Friday morning, Mr Dring gave further evidence. Later, Dr Alexandersen of Pirbright, who was in attendance at Burnside on Saturday 24th February 2001, gave expert evidence on the virus, spread and dating of lesions. Mr Dring is due to continue his expert evidence next week.

Best wishes
Bruce"
                        

Originally from: Farmtalking
                        
Thanks Brent –

Poor Bobby! – there will be more!

 I spoke to Bruce this morning and one thing he told me is that Dring said in Court

'Call me a liar if you like'

Apparently he was very arrogant and he didn't need to say that as the QC had already tripped him up!

Best wishes – Jane

_______________________________________________________

Established 10th March 2001
Visit the 'Farm-talking' web site at:
 <A HREF="http://www.farmtalking.com">FARMTALKING.org</A>
For Information, Help and Advice, Your Legal Rights and the Law
For Farmers, their families and others affected by the FMD crisis in the U.K. Find out all you need to know about life in the Countryside today
What's on! -Links – Articles – News – Message Board!
"Farmtalking"
Scottish Charity No: SCO32660
Help-lines: 01361–850282/850680
"You're welcome!"
                        

Originally from: brentns
                        
Thanks Jane..

This is stunning..after all the time the government and propaganda press has spent demonizing the Waughs.. and this is the quality of the evidence.. the details of which again are misrepresented in the press..
Disgraceful..

All the Best
brent

Originally from: David
                        
It will now be interesting to find out where Bobby Waugh was getting his swill from.

For those of you who don't realise all public authority food requirements have to go out to tender and probably EU WIDE.

I say this because of a guy from Transco (Gas pipeline) told me that under EU rules they had to submit the contract for the gas pipeline that came through my farm to all EU countries. Consequently we had a German or Danish company lay the pipe. That company was sacked before completion and another foreign company came in to finish the work. A French company is now carrying out reinstatement work. Transco has given them a heap of money but they are refusing to compensate me for unsatisfactory reinstatement work and Transco say they have contracted out their obligation. In the past we never had any problems with the gas pipeline people. Meanwhile British contractors are going out of business.

We know the army marches on foreign food. Bobby Waugh may be old and untidy but he did not import that food. We did have a cold snap in January when our water pipes froze so I guess he would have had to think of a different way of getting the swill to his pigs if the pipes were frozen.

All this is assuming Bobby Waugh's farm was the first case in the UK because many of us think it was around for at least three weeks before it got to his pigs. I'm sure the Government would like Bobby Waugh to be the fall guy for this in order to protect the ridiculous laws; rules and regulations the EU are imposing on us.

Much of what is going wrong in this country is as a direct result of our membership of the EU but while the Government is pledged to promote the EU at any cost, we are not going to see much justice in this country. The trouble is, in comparison to the rest of the EU, the UK is doing better overall. If we join the Euro, we would have to devalue our currency by 30% so we would all have to go to EU only countries for our holidays. Bye, Bye and sorry USA etc, etc. Our non EU imports would go up by 30% and our economy would slide down the drain.

David

Originally from: and
                        
.

We know the army marches on foreign food. Bobby Waugh may be old and

untidy

but he did not import that food. We did have a cold snap in January when
our water pipes froze so I guess he would have had to think of a different
way of getting the swill to his pigs if the pipes were frozen.

True David, but don't forget that Waugh was feeding untreated swill to his pigs, this is an extremely dangerous and irresponsible thing to do. I can't see how we can condone or excuse these actions and in the next breath accuse the govt of being negligent for not properly policing illegal imports.

Whether the outbreak started at his farm is unimportant. The issue of the trial is whether waugh breached swill feeding regulations, animal welfare guidelines and failed to report FMD. The cruelty issue aside, waugh's actions were selfish, by feeding swill untreated he was greatly increasing the risk of an FMD outbreak, between the 20's and the 50's, when the UK had an FMD outbreak virtually every year, nearly all were traced back to infected meat fed in swill, (over half of that meat came from Argentina.) Swill feeding was by far the most likely cause of an outbreak, which it why it was so tightly controled.

It is importnt that Waugh does not become a scapegoat for the whole outbreak, I do believe he was respomsible for starting it, but he was not responsible for allowing it to spread out of control and the incompetent handling of the subsequent epidemic.

All this is assuming Bobby Waugh's farm was the first case in the UK

because

many of us think it was around for at least three weeks before it got to

his

pigs. I'm sure the Government would like Bobby Waugh to be the fall guy

for

this in order to protect the ridiculous laws; rules and regulations the EU
are imposing on us.

Much of what is going wrong in this country is as a direct result of our
membership of the EU but while the Government is pledged to promote the EU
at any cost, we are not going to see much justice in this country. The
trouble is, in comparison to the rest of the EU, the UK is doing better
overall. If we join the Euro, we would have to devalue our currency by

30%

so we would all have to go to EU only countries for our holidays. Bye,

Bye

and sorry USA etc, etc. Our non EU imports would go up by 30% and our
economy would slide down the drain.

David

-----Original Message-----
From: ... [...]
Sent: Saturday, May 11, 2002 12:22 AM
To: ...
Subject: [farmtalking] Bobby Waugh's Trial

I have recieved another report of Bobby Waugh's trial, kindly sent by

Bruce

Jobson and copied below –

"The first week of Bobby Waugh's trial concluded at 4.15pm today. The
prosecution witness testimony was provided by MAFF vets, Mr Mansley, Mr
Dring and Dr Alexandersen from Pirbright.

Mr Jeremy Stuart-Smith QC (JSS) cross-examined the witnesses during the

late

afternoon. However, several details of interest have therefore gone
unreported. This is due to the fact that the Press Association (and

several

local journalists in attendance) have had to regularly leave the court

early

in order to file copy for publication. On Thursday, proceedings finished

at

5.15pm.

However, the graphic video footage, shown the previous day, showed one
particular dead pig. This was later confirmed in court as having been put
down by MAFF vets.

Of particular interest was the lengthy cross-examination by JSS of MAFF

vet

Mr Jim Dring. From a practical farming point of view, Mr Dring's evidence
came under close-scrutiny in relation to the licensing of Mr Waugh's
premises. Burnside had received its annual license inspection by Mr Dring

on

24th January 2001 and received its official renewal on 30th January 2001.

Having seen the video evidence the previous day and the extremely untidy
state of Burnside Farm, Mr Dring was continually requested by JSS, to
explain as to how he had continued to licence the premises, and to explain
as to how he had continued to file his six-monthly reports, over a number

of

many years, by 'ticking' the box marked, 'Satisfactory'

JSS went through the various requirements of the licensing procedure that

Mr

Dring had continued to mark as being, 'Satisfactory' . Mr Dring also
confirmed that it wasn't unusual to find cutlery and crockery in pig pens,
especially where the animals were fed on a (processed) swill-fed diet. Mr
Dring also confirmed that he had authorised Mr Waugh to feed his pigs on
unprocessed swill on Friday 23rd of February, as the pigs were

subsequently

due to be slaughtered over the weekend.

The video of the pigs and the cutlery within the pig pens was taken on the
following day, Saturday 24th February. JSS suggested to Mr Dring that the
unprocessed swill fed on 23rd February, containing various pieces of
crockery and cutlery, had therefore resulted in various items being found

in

Mr Waugh's pens and troughs on the 24th February. But not all.

JSS also suggested to Mr Dring that he knew on or about 24th January, that
Mr Waugh was feeding his herd by 'bailing' the swill into troughs, by
bucket, rather than by pipeline-feeding. JSS suggested that Mr Dring had
been informed on 24th January by Mr Waugh, that the pipeline system used

to

feed the pigs had 'frozen-up' and that the pigs were being fed by bucket.

Mr

Dring consistently denied that he knew of this arrangement.

On further cross-examination, Mr Dring stated that he had taken home a
dictated statement that had been previously recorded (written) by Mr

George

Bird. Having taken the original statement home, Mr Dring rewrote the
statement in order to use his own words to reflect greater accuracy of
detail. Mr Dring, being a vet of 26 years experience, wanted his own

precise

wording and felt that George Bird had not accurately reflected Mr Dring's
expert observation and interpretation.

Later in the afternoon, in open court, Mr Dring could not recollect as to
how, in the previous written statement taken down by Mr George Bird, that
the bucket-feeding operation was mentioned.

On Friday morning, Mr Dring gave further evidence. Later, Dr Alexandersen

of

Pirbright, who was in attendance at Burnside on Saturday 24th February

2001,

gave expert evidence on the virus, spread and dating of lesions. Mr Dring

is

Originally from: Mary Critchley
                        
I wonder whether we are ever going to get the whole truth about Waugh. See below.

Personally I hate pig production of this kind – but the fact seems to be that it was the Maff vets themselves that condoned his farm AND authorised the untreated swill

From: ...

Originally from warmwell

http://www.warmwell.com

May 11 ~ Waugh crimes? MAFF vet admits he'd passed farm as satisfactory and authorised use of unprocessed swill
"..several details of interest have gone unreported..... Of particular interest was the lengthy cross-examination by Mr Jeremy Stuart-Smith QC of MAFF vet Mr Jim Dring. From a practical farming point of view, Mr Dring's evidence came under close-scrutiny in relation to the licensing of Mr Waugh's premises. Burnside had received its annual licence inspection by Mr Dring on 24th January 2001 and received its official renewal on 30th January 2001.
Having seen the video evidence the previous day and the extremely untidy state of Burnside Farm, Mr Dring was continually requested by Mr Jeremy Stuart-Smith, to explain how he had continued to licence the premises, and to explain how he had continued to file his six-monthly reports, over a number of many years, by 'ticking' the box marked, 'Satisfactory' ... Mr Stuart-Smith went through the various requirements of the licensing procedure that Mr Dring had continued to mark as being, 'Satisfactory' . Mr Dring also confirmed that it wasn't unusual to find cutlery and crockery in pig pens, especially where the animals were fed on a (processed) swill-fed diet. Mr Dring also confirmed that he had authorised Mr Waugh to feed his pigs on unprocessed swill on Friday 23rd of February, as the pigs were subsequently due to be slaughtered over the weekend. ..".(report)

 May 11 ~ 'Call me a liar if you like' (Mr James Dring said in Court)
An onlooker at the trial reports that James Dring the MAFF vet at the trial of Bobby Waugh (see below) was "very arrogant and he hardly needed to say that. The QC had already tripped him up."
Why would a MAFF vet fail to report low standards? an email recieved this morning:
"I was wondering why a MAFF vet would fail to report low standards of animal welfare. There are dozens of similar cases going back three years. The Lord Carter affair, the one in Scotland (the Scotpigs incident involving "King" Arthur Simmers) and many many others. You could suggest "backhanders" or influence, but that would hardly ring true with Waugh. The stories are all similar – videos of dead pigs, poor hygiene, cannibalism. No action ever taken.
Then it stuck me. I know MAFF were covering up a series of epidemics in the indoor pig herds, presumably for fear of a health scare. What the videos were showing was the effects of illness and, sometimes inadequate efforts to handle the consequences. If they had pressed a prosecution, the balloon might have gone up. The situation that developed at Waugh's meant they had no option but to prosecute."
                        

Originally from: and
                        
I would assume the inspections use the same rating syatem as dairy inspection, then 'satisfactory' would be the lowest one could get and stay operating.

It seems there was gross negligence within MAFF. The attitude of the inspectors seems odd, normally these types are keen to assert their authority, and farmers are complaining they are overzealous.

Remember though that the MAFF man was only there to inspect the swill plant, and issue a licence that meant waugh had fulfilled the minimum requirements to be a licenced swill feeder, not to pass his animal welfare record.

I assume the idea of MAFF covering up a major epidemic in the indoor pig industry comes from Pat Gardiner. Much as I like Pat, I'm not entirely convinced by his conspiracy theory. he keeps citing Mike Meridith as a v sensible, impartial,
objective vet pig specialist. Abigail tells me he taught her at vet school and in her opinion he was a raving loon, all a matter of opinion i suppose.

regards

andrew

Originally from: frances fish
                        
Referring to the feeding of unprocessed swill by Bobby to his pigs,as Joyce so pertinently asks, which part of the swill can carry FMD virus ? We have been told by experienced people that pig-swill tends to be very acidic. Is this after processing or also before ? I ask because I recall that one of the agents used by Defra in particular to "Disinfect" was citric acid, as we were informed a low Ph killed the virus. But, then much of what we were told of FMD has proved not to be so and quite a lot more should be taken with a tonne(or thereabouts) of sodium chloride. O.K. common salt to you & me. Frances