...as F&M man stays in hiding
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• The haulier blamed for causing the first foot and mouth outbreak in Northern Ireland in 40 years is in hiding, but he has spoken out for the first time. Former property dealer John Walsh became notorious throughout Ireland after newspapers in Dublin reported that he unwittingly bought diseased sheep from Cumbria and smuggled them across the Irish border.
Using a hired wagon, Walsh transported 271 sheep from Longtown Auction Mart in Carlisle to Northern Ireland and took 250 of the animals on to Kepak abattoir in Athleague, Co Roscommon in the South.
The remaining 21 sheep went to a farm at Meigh, Co Armagh—the scene of Northern Ireland's first foot and mouth outbreak. Speaking from a secret location in Carlisle, Walsh said: "My name is now blackened throughout Ireland. If I walked into an auction mart in Ireland now I'd be lynched. I had the misfortune to bring in diseased sheep—I honestly had no idea they were infected. "I was one of hundreds doing the same thing. But I'm going through a conscience crisis, asking myself what could happen if this disease got into Irish farms." Walsh refused to discuss details of how the sheep were transported across the border from Northern Ireland.
A Garda spokeswoman has confirmed that two senior officers travelled to England to question a man in connection with the case.