BBC News | WALES | Brothers fined over BSE cattle

Two brothers who ran a cattle incineration business have been ordered to pay �130,000 in fines and costs after being convicted on 36 counts of breaching the Environment Protection Act.

Charles and Samuel Clutton were told they had been "motivated by greed" after not disposing of cattle properly.

Cluttons Incinerators got into difficulties at the height of the BSE crisis when the Government ordered that all cattle over the age of 30-months had to be destroyed.

Farmers across the north of England and Wales relied on the Wrexham-based company to dispose of their animals.

'Dishonest'

Despite its three incinerator stacks, the company found itself with more work than it could cope with.

An investigation by Wrexham Council revealed many breaches of the Environment Protection Act.

Cluttons incinerator
Farmers across the north used the plant

They included keeping carcasses for longer than they should have done, not making records available on the number of cattle they were incinerating and using three incinerators when they were only licensed to use two at a time.

Assistant Recorder Nicholas Woodward, sitting at Chester Crown Court, said: "What you did was to exceed the number of incinerations permitted in order to make extra profit... this enterprise was totally dishonest."

Wrexham Council was given �80,000 of the total penalty to cover the costs of the investigation.


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