'Smokies' farmer loses court bid

Carmelo Gale admitted operating an unlawful slaughterhouse

A farmer convicted of running an illegal slaughterhouse to provide meat delicacies called "smokies" has lost his bid to clear his name.

Appeal Court judges ruled that Carmelo Gale's conviction for operating an illegal slaughterhouse was safe.

Gale from Llandysul, Ceredigion, admitted the charge at Swansea Crown Court last June and was given a six months in jail and had to pay costs.

Judges rejected his claim that the case was not justified because of a delay.

The court heard on Wednesday that Gale was "caught red-handed" on 12 December, 2001.

His farm was under surveillance for several days beforehand by officers from Carmarthenshire County Council, who suspected he was operating an illegal slaughterhouse.

Officers entered the premises and found sheep waiting to be slaughtered. They also found carcasses of newly-slaughtered animals, along with blow-torches and gas cylinders.

Animal flesh is scorched with a blow-torch to produce 'smokies'

Lord Justice Gage said the blow-torches were there to produce the "smokies" - singed carcasses of sheep or goats considered as delicacies in some cultures.

The officers confronted Gale, who admitted he had been slaughtering without a licence. He was eventually charged almost a year after the raid.

The appeal judge told the court the defence submission had been that Gale should not have faced the charge because the year-long time limit ran from the beginning of the council investigations.

But, the judge, added, the Crown argued that definitive information that an offence was being committed was gathered on 12 December, 2001, and the countdown to the time limit began the next day, 13 December.

The prosecution, he said, was brought "within a whisker" of the deadline - but nevertheless within it.

Ruling that the conviction should stand, Lord Justice Gage, who was sitting with Mr Justice Nelson and Sir Douglas Brown, said the evidence gathered before council officers entered the premises only fuelled their suspicions of a crime being committed.