E.coli police seal off meat firm

Police officers sealed off John Tudor and Son, of Bridgend

The premises of the meat supplier linked to the outbreak of E.coli in south Wales have been sealed off by police.

Police officers are guarding John Tudor and Son in Bridgend, after launching a criminal investigation.

A total of 156 people in 42 schools have fallen ill through the infection, and a five-year-old boy has died.

On Friday, South Wales Police said a post mortem examination had confirmed Mason Jones died of E.coli poisoning.

The Bridgend meat supplier has been linked by the outbreak control team to the infection, although the firm has said tests have proved negative.

E.coli girl fit for closed school

A South Wales Police spokesman said: "We have sealed off the meat suppliers because it is a potential crime scene.

"An officer has been on preservation and security duties since we announced we were launching a criminal investigation."

Their investigation will consider whether there is "criminal culpability" involving Mason Jones' death and the outbreak.

On Thursday Glenboi Primary School in Mountain Ash in the Cynon Valley was closed after bloody diarrhoea was found in the boys' toilets. It remained shut on Friday.

Roland Salmon of the National Public Health Service said it was a "sensible precaution" to clean the premises.

'Exceptional'

Mason Jones, five, of Deri, Bargoed, died in Bristol Children's Hospital on Tuesday, the first fatal victim of the outbreak.

Officials still do not know which of Glenboi's 97 pupils was ill and have defended their decision to close one school while keeping all the others open.

Dr Salmon said the decision was not a U-turn in policy.

He told BBC Radio Wales on Friday: "We always said that we were keeping schools open because this was a structured environment where we would know what was going on.

"And if we found anything that would lead us to think it would be sensible to close a school that's what we would do. So that is what we've done with this school.

"But it relates only to the circumstances that we've found in this school and it doesn't represent any shift in our policy towards keeping schools open as best we can."

Dr Salmon said as the sick pupil remained unidentified it made sense to close the school and clean it.

The outbreak control team which was first alerted to the food poisoning on 18 September described the situation at Glenboi as exceptional.

Professor Hugh Pennington, who chaired an inquiry into the UK's worst outbreak of E.coli when 21 people died in Lanarkshire, Scotland, in 1996, said closing the school was a "wise precaution".

The Welsh assembly has also agreed to set up a committee to decide the form of a separate health inquiry.

The outbreak control team has re-opened its helpline to provide advice and information to parents between 0900 BST and 1700 BST on 029 2040 2520.