Crown case butchered

The Wishaw business of John M Barr and Son was fined #2250 with the Barr family not even in the dock to hear sentence passed.

It was an extraordinary ending to an extraordinary story, following a behind-the-scenes deal between the Crown and defence.

However, the repercussions in the aftermath of a food poisoning outbreak which caused so much shock, anxiety and consternation among the Scottish public will be limitless.

For the second time, it would appear that the Crown's case not only collapsed but exposed fundamental flaws in a hitherto internationally renowned legal system.

Yesterday, at Hamilton Sheriff Court, the butcher's and baker's business pleaded guilty to two amended charges from an original litany of four charges which ran to more than 1500 words and directly named the three partners - Mr Barr, 52, his wife Elaine, 51, and their son Martin, 29.

The case was expected to last up to four weeks, with more than 200 witnesses called - but took up only 75 minutes of courtroom time.

The amendments still included a charge, brought under the Food Safety Act, 1990, that ''a number of persons in Wishaw and elsewhere in Scotland who consumed the contaminated food contracted E-coli 0157 food poisoning, and that a number of these persons died.''

However, a similar charge against the Barr family was abandoned by depute procurator-fiscal Ian McCann.

Business implications for the Wishaw butcher and his partners are now anyone's guess, subject as they are to the public's response.

Sheriff Lewis Cameron acknowledged the firm has already suffered ''notoriety and financial loss''. However, many other concerns now exist - as underlined by the reaction of victims, politicians and lawyers.

These range from fears over the future of food hygiene to the so-called ''shambolic'' endings in both the criminal cases brought against the butcher.

The question marks include alleged failures of the E-coli outbreak team to contact environmental officers or police, and failures to caution Mr Barr during legal inquiries.

A fatal accident inquiry is now likely, with legal proceedings seemingly exhausted - unless some victims carry out their threat to pursue private prosecutions.

An FAI would look at ways the medical, health and environmental authorities allegedly mishandled critical aspects of the outbreak. It is also likely to review courtroom events which some observers consider have bordered on the farcical.

More than a year has passed since two incidents set alarm bells ringing among health and environmental services.

Elderly people collapsed after eating steak pie supplied by John M. Barr and Son in nearby Caledonian Road to their Wishaw pensioners' lunch club. Six were to die.

Numerous people - young and old - fell ill after attending a function in the town's Cascade Bar allegedly supplied with baked ham, roast beef and cooked turkey contaminated with E-coli 0157.

Within days, hundreds of people reported symptoms throughout Central Scotland and the death toll climbed. But it was Mr Barr himself who voluntarily closed his shop after the first fatality was recorded on November 26, 1996.

The Government has gone some way to assuaging food hygiene concerns via Professor Hugh Pennington's 32 recommendations for the preparation and storage of meat. However, arguably no-one is the wiser about what caused the Central Scotland outbreak and who was to blame.

Mr Barr appeared in court last October on charges of culpably, wilfully, and recklessly supplying cooked meats which caused a major E-coli outbreak. He walked free without a blemish on his character - to the delight of hundreds of faithful customers - after a sheriff ruled there was no case to answer because of a lack of evidence against him.

That trial reputedly cost the taxpayer #100,000 and was followed by calls for an inquiry. It was clear the quantity and quality of Crown evidence during the six-day case was lacking - and, equally worrying, that medical and environmental authorities mishandled crucial aspects of the outbreak with proper procedures not in place to ensure everyone was in possession of information to act.

The family who held the Cascade party at the centre of evidence also condemned the handling of the case.

Mr William MacFarlane and his wife, Fay, who organised the function for their daughter Lauren's 18th birthday, said they had been through - ''months of hell''.'

Mr MacFarlane added that the Crown case should have been better prepared, and questioned whether they should have brought the trial.

At the time, a Crown Office spokesman said the decision to prosecute Mr Barr had been taken by Crown counsel after ''the most careful consideration'' of all the available evidence.

He added: ''The Lord Advocate remains satisfied that criminal proceedings in this case were in the public interest.''

Reaction last night suggested that nothing has changed.

The business pleaded guilty to failing to comply with the 1995 food hygiene regulations between August 27 and November 28, 1996, by not ensuring ''all articles, fittings and equipment which came into contact with food were kept clean.''

The charge said a boiler in the butchery section used for cooking joints and cooked stew, and a vacuum packing machine used for both cooked and raw meats, were contaiminated with E-coli 0157. The firm was fined #750.

A second and more serious charge, also admitted, was brought under the Food Safety Act, 1990. It stated that between November 1 and 23, 1996, employees, agents or persons unknown at the firm's premises and elsewhere in Scotland stored and sold for human consumption cooked meats and cooked meat products contaminated with E-coli.

It added that a numer of people who consumed the contaminated food contracted food poisoning, and ''that a number of those persons died.'' The firm was fined #1500.