E.coli inquiry told of dead flies

Mason Jones died after eating contaminated cooked meat

Dead flies, woodlice and insects were found at a butcher which supplied meat that led to an E.coli outbreak, a public inquiry has been told.

But previous environmental health inspections did not consider the failings enough to shut the Bridgend firm, the inquiry's first day heard.

More than 150 children and adults fell ill and a five-year-old died in 2005.

The butcher who was jailed for a year after admitting placing unsafe food on the market will not give evidence.

Inquiry chairman Hugh Pennington has said the truth would be sought and failings made clear.

At the start of the first day of the six-week inquiry in Cardiff Bay a minute's silence was held for Mason Jones, the boy from Bargoed, Caerphilly county, who died. Prof Pennington said Mason was "very much in my mind".

I know that I've got to be strong enough, to get justice for Mason or some sort of justice Sharon Mills

The E.coli O157 strain outbreak affected 44 schools. It was the largest of its kind in Wales, the second biggest of its kind in the UK and the sixth largest worldwide.

A police investigation into the outbreak shut down the Bridgend butcher's firm run by Tudor, which supplied the schools in the outbreak.

However, questions remain over how the bacteria was able to spread and reach 44 different schools.

In his opening statement, senior counsel to the inquiry James Eadie QC said the only factor connecting all the schools in the outbreak was cold sliced meat from Tudor's Bridgend-based butcher company, John Tudor & Son.

Explaining that the butcher William Tudor, from Cowbridge, Vale of Glamorgan, would not have to appear at the hearing, Mr Eadie said Tudor had rejected repeated invitations to provide the inquiry with a statement.

"That is his choice," Mr Eadie said.

If mistakes have been made, we will have to point those out so that we don't make those sort of mistakes again Prof Hugh Pennington

"There is evidence from experts, evidence from employees and others gathered at the time by the police.

"Moreover, by his guilty plea, he has accepted at least the central thrust of the case the local authorities made against him."

As well as the dead insects at the butchers' plant, the inquiry was told there was also congealed dirt found around machinery used for slicing and packing food.

Other issues the inquiry is investigating include the inspection of food businesses and the way the outbreak was managed.

The Crown Prosecution Service decided not to bring a separate charge of gross negligence manslaughter after a police investigation. Mr Eadie said some affected families might be considering whether there were viable legal challenges to that decision.

There were 157 probable cases of the E.coli 0157 strain and 118 confirmed during the outbreak, which was declared on 16 September 2005 and declared over on 20 December that year.

Some justice

Prof Pennington, a microbiologist who investigated a previous E.coli outbreak in Lanarkshire in 1996, said before the hearing: "If mistakes have been made, we will have to point those out so that we don't make those sort of mistakes again."

Mason's mother Sharon Mills and father Nathan Jones led parents of children affected by the outbreak into Crickhowell House

She said: "It will be difficult. Two-and-a-half years on, it's still upsetting to talk about what happened to Mason but I'm strong enough, and I know that I've got to be strong enough, to get justice for Mason or some sort of justice."

Mason's death had a big effect on his brothers Chandler, 10, and Cavan, three, she said.

Chandler was "withdrawn and he is very worried about what he eats," said Ms Mills. "He and Mason were so close".