:00:05. > :00:08.disturbing. Two weeks ago, Spotlight made
:00:08. > :00:13.contact with a man who said he was part of a long-running criminal
:00:13. > :00:18.conspiracy, a fraud which exploits weaknesses in the system for
:00:18. > :00:22.exporting horsemeat into the human food chain. A fraud which has a
:00:22. > :00:28.direct bearing on the European food crisis.
:00:28. > :00:34.Why is it important that what you are involved with get out? Why?
:00:34. > :00:38.Number one would be the health and safety of people, 4G would be day
:00:38. > :00:41.cruelty that goes on behind closed doors. The man we interviewed said
:00:41. > :00:47.he was at the heart of that criminal operation. By speaking to
:00:47. > :00:57.us, he says he is putting himself in danger. Tonight on Spotlight,
:00:57. > :01:15.
:01:15. > :01:19.his inside story of the criminal Over the past two months, the
:01:19. > :01:24.scandal of untraceable horse meat in processed food has plunged the
:01:24. > :01:29.European food industry into crisis. The Prime Minister has issued a
:01:29. > :01:33.stern warning to any 100 and passing of horsemeat of -- passing
:01:33. > :01:37.of horsemeat as beef. Thousands of samples are to be tested for
:01:37. > :01:41.horsemeat. Three men were arrested earlier this evening on suspicion
:01:41. > :01:46.of fraud as part of the investigation into horsemeat being
:01:46. > :01:50.labelled as beef. Politicians in the UK and Republic
:01:50. > :01:54.of Ireland attempted to contain the problem by pointing out meat
:01:54. > :01:59.products are fundamentally safe and that the system for tracing horses
:01:59. > :02:04.and horsemeat is working. This, for the moment, is a labelling problem,
:02:05. > :02:08.an issue of fraud. There is a full investigation going on as to how
:02:08. > :02:13.the imported additives got into the system and where they would come
:02:13. > :02:17.from. But tonight, we can reveal that the system for slaughtering
:02:17. > :02:20.horses and processing their meat has been corrupted and exploited by
:02:20. > :02:25.a small group of individuals based in Northern Ireland and the
:02:25. > :02:30.Republic. Several days ago, Spotlight made contact with a man
:02:30. > :02:34.who claims to have been an insider in that conspiracy. We interviewed
:02:34. > :02:38.him on two separate occasions. He cannot be identified, because he
:02:38. > :02:44.fears for his safety, but during those interviews, he gave a
:02:44. > :02:49.detailed account of how the fraud work. He started by telling us how,
:02:49. > :02:53.over the last four years, large numbers of Irish horses were
:02:53. > :02:58.purchased cheaply across the country by a small group of people.
:02:58. > :03:06.Where did the horses come from? Anywhere, everywhere, moreover we
:03:06. > :03:12.could get them. Good, bad, indifferent, it did not matter.
:03:12. > :03:15.you buy them at markets? Some were born there, somewhat out and around
:03:15. > :03:20.the country, a lot of them born -- bought a round the country.
:03:20. > :03:24.Whereabouts? Around farms and places, people did not want them,
:03:25. > :03:29.or could not afford them. After the economic crisis, there
:03:29. > :03:32.was no shortage of people, north and south of the border, willing to
:03:32. > :03:37.sell horses they could no longer afford to keep.
:03:37. > :03:44.Did anyone ever ask you why you were so interested in buying up
:03:44. > :03:48.their horse? People knew. They did not know they were going to a
:03:48. > :03:56.factory, but thought they were going for dog food. They never
:03:56. > :04:00.thought they were going into human food? No. Definitely not.
:04:00. > :04:05.Most of the horses bought by the gang across Ireland were on the
:04:05. > :04:09.face of it of little value. Horses which have proper documentation can
:04:09. > :04:14.demand a higher price, often several hundred pounds, when sent
:04:14. > :04:18.to slaughter, but need a document called a horse passport. It shows
:04:18. > :04:23.the provenance of the horse and, crucially, its medication history.
:04:23. > :04:31.And horses born since 2009 also need a microchip implanted under
:04:31. > :04:36.their skin and the cheque number is recorded in the passport. This they
:04:36. > :04:42.it says that, in theory, this system should allow any horse to be
:04:42. > :04:46.properly identified. How the system works is that, since 2009, it is a
:04:46. > :04:50.requirement when an owner applies for a passport that a horse has a
:04:50. > :04:55.microchip present. That is always inserted in the left-hand side of
:04:55. > :05:04.the neck, so it can be read in that position with a particular scanning
:05:04. > :05:08.device. And so, since 2009, every horse that has a passport issued
:05:08. > :05:12.for them would also have a matching microchip and microchip number that
:05:12. > :05:17.can be read with this device and it is also to be found on the document
:05:17. > :05:20.linked with that animal, so it should be a unique way of
:05:20. > :05:25.identifying who this horse is and provide information about the
:05:25. > :05:31.animal. That is the theory, but in practice,
:05:31. > :05:34.the scam was simpler. They should always be a vet who inserts a
:05:34. > :05:38.microchip in the horse and fills out the passport. The gang simply
:05:38. > :05:42.did it themselves, inserting bogus microchips into the animal and
:05:42. > :05:47.forging horse passports to match them. The end I eight -- the
:05:47. > :05:57.insider says it happened on an industrial scale. In the trade,
:05:57. > :05:58.
:05:58. > :06:02.horse passports are known as books. They had a bag full of new books.
:06:02. > :06:09.But some horses needed to have a microchip? What happened in that
:06:09. > :06:14.case? They were inserted. How could that happen? Like an injection.
:06:14. > :06:20.you ever cook chips into horses? Yes. But that has a number, how
:06:20. > :06:25.does that work? You get the scanner and read it. And write the new
:06:25. > :06:31.number into the passport? Yes. This meant that horses bought at
:06:31. > :06:35.markets, or from farmers, for less than �50 were now worth several
:06:35. > :06:42.hundred pounds when sold to abattoirs licensed to slaughter for
:06:42. > :06:47.export abroad for human consumption. It was a licence to print money.
:06:47. > :06:53.All we needed was horses, lots of them.
:06:53. > :07:00.If there were about horses, you would get 16 on it, big and small,
:07:00. > :07:05.you could even put 25, 26 horses. pack in as much as you can? Yes.
:07:05. > :07:10.How much would you have paid for a fool lorry in total? Not much more
:07:10. > :07:15.than �1,000 for them. The scam was lucrative, a lorry-load of horses,
:07:15. > :07:19.costing no more than once �1,000 to buy, but fetching far more when
:07:19. > :07:24.sold to an abattoir to be slaughtered for human consumption.
:07:24. > :07:30.How much money we are you taking home? The average cheque would run
:07:30. > :07:40.into about �5,000, something like that. And how much would be given
:07:40. > :07:45.to you? You get �1,000. That is great money. Yes.
:07:45. > :07:52.The money may have been good, but as time went on, the insider began
:07:52. > :07:54.to see the cost of the criminal operation. Cruelty on a massive
:07:54. > :07:57.scale. The gang were gathering large groups of horses together
:07:57. > :08:04.before taking into England. But there were so many are waiting
:08:04. > :08:09.transport, for long periods, horses would get no food, shelter or water.
:08:09. > :08:13.He told us about that in his first interview.
:08:13. > :08:18.They would be starving for weeks on end and in the bad weather.
:08:18. > :08:23.Eventually, we thought about going around then, gathering their mark,
:08:24. > :08:27.but there would be none of them there. -- gathering them up, but
:08:28. > :08:31.there would be none of them and we could not get to them. Tell me
:08:31. > :08:35.about the horses that did not make it to the journey, what happened to
:08:35. > :08:45.them? There were horses that did not make the journey, but others
:08:45. > :08:48.
:08:48. > :08:52.did not make the journey... The insider pointed as to a
:08:52. > :09:02.location where he said horses had died. These photographs taken
:09:02. > :09:02.
:09:03. > :09:06.ashore horse bones have submerged in the ground. One of the most
:09:06. > :09:12.disturbing revelations from the insider is that horses were
:09:12. > :09:21.regularly administered them a beautiful, known as bute, and be
:09:21. > :09:25.The drugs would either be given in a horse's food or sometimes by
:09:25. > :09:29.injection. Tell me about the horses that were
:09:29. > :09:33.being transported, because they were cheap horses, they must not
:09:33. > :09:38.have been in the best of shape. Some were not, but to stimulate
:09:38. > :09:46.them and get them up on your feet again, you would give them seven
:09:46. > :09:52.cortisone and bute. Bute is banned for human consumption and an EU law.
:09:52. > :09:55.However, the current scientific consensus is that, even if
:09:55. > :10:05.horsemeat containing bute has passed into the food chain, the
:10:05. > :10:05.
:10:05. > :10:10.risk to humans is low. Bute has been around for a long
:10:10. > :10:16.time, widely roost, but some research showed a small number of
:10:16. > :10:21.cases, people, humans, suffered from a particularly serious ailment
:10:21. > :10:25.of the bone marrow. -- widely used. Act out of anaemia, average your
:10:25. > :10:29.body switches off the production of red blood cells and it can be fatal
:10:29. > :10:34.in some cases. But it was a very small number of cases that that
:10:34. > :10:41.happened. Our insiders says that, in some
:10:41. > :10:45.cases, horses were given bute just hours before being slaughtered.
:10:45. > :10:50.a horse had a heart beat and could walk on its four Lex, you would
:10:51. > :11:00.stand up on that Lawrie until he got to England. What would make
:11:01. > :11:01.
:11:01. > :11:05.that horse stand better and manage that trip? Bute. It was 16-18 hours.
:11:05. > :11:11.There is no direct evidence that even this could harm human health,
:11:11. > :11:14.but it does raise other concerns. That would be extremely bad news,
:11:14. > :11:19.because the drug administered to the animal, immediately before
:11:19. > :11:21.slaughter, means there will be high concentrations of the drug present
:11:21. > :11:29.in the horse and those residues will make their way into the food
:11:29. > :11:36.supply chain. For this professor, one of the biggest issues is that
:11:36. > :11:39.we simply do not know what we are eating. This probably, from an
:11:39. > :11:43.international standing, is probably one of the biggest issues we have
:11:43. > :11:51.seen in relation to the Trust of that the supply chain we have
:11:51. > :11:54.witnessed since B S E. What the insider told Spotlight over the
:11:54. > :11:58.last two weeks has cast serious doubt on the security of the horse
:11:59. > :12:04.passport system, a system set up to protect consumers when it comes to
:12:04. > :12:14.how horsemeat enters the human food chain. What he says would suggest
:12:14. > :12:19.
:12:19. > :12:25.that horse passports are wide open Janice is chairperson of racehorse
:12:25. > :12:30.sanctuary and she says her organisation has been concerned
:12:30. > :12:36.about the disposal of low-value Irish horses for several years.
:12:36. > :12:39.Most of them were being shipped across the Irish Sea to be
:12:39. > :12:43.slaughtered and are then most of that meat was supposed to be going
:12:43. > :12:49.to the Continent. However, we knew that the people we were working
:12:49. > :12:53.with, the sheer numbers who were going through these yards, and the
:12:53. > :12:57.numbers of export and import figures were not matching up. Where
:12:57. > :13:01.were these horses going? believes the movement of so many
:13:01. > :13:07.horses was only possible because the horse passport system has been
:13:07. > :13:12.abused on a massive scale. A lot of the people who it is aimed at
:13:12. > :13:16.policing, basically, are laughing up their sleeve at it because they
:13:16. > :13:22.know nobody in authority is really bothering themselves to check
:13:22. > :13:26.passports. When we ask people if we can see a passport if they will
:13:26. > :13:33.rummage in their van and they will say, what colour is it? We will
:13:33. > :13:36.tell them and they have every colour and type of bogus passports
:13:36. > :13:41.which they will pull out and start to complete in front of you. It is
:13:41. > :13:48.a total farce. And also at the ports, why our passports not being
:13:48. > :13:52.checked? People will get a lorry which pulls up and they will handle
:13:52. > :13:57.-- hand over a number of passports and the tailgate will be lowered so
:13:57. > :14:01.that they can do a head count of how many horses in the lorry but no
:14:01. > :14:06.passport is matched up to an individual horse on that lorry. You
:14:06. > :14:10.could have any horses going through with any passport and the -- the
:14:10. > :14:14.passports may look legitimate but the horses are not. Our insider
:14:14. > :14:20.said checks at the ports never posed a problem for him.
:14:20. > :14:27.Were you ever stopped? Never. anyone ever poor you win and say
:14:27. > :14:31.why are you driving back big load of horses? Never. I wanted to ask
:14:31. > :14:36.the minister at the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development,
:14:36. > :14:39.Michelle O'Neill, about how lax the system appeared to be. She was not
:14:39. > :14:47.available but the department did put forward the chief veterinary
:14:48. > :14:55.officer. The control at the port was a head count first as the horse
:14:55. > :14:59.passport. Horses were not unloaded. There is no place to unload them.
:14:59. > :15:04.And there is no -- it is not safe to unload them. We did the best we
:15:04. > :15:09.could do. It just wasn't good enough. I'm sorry, you say it is
:15:09. > :15:14.just not good enough. What I am saying is I am looking at all of
:15:14. > :15:18.the ways that we might harden the system to the risk of abuse. It is
:15:19. > :15:22.too late. It is never too late to harden the system. The horses are
:15:22. > :15:31.gone, they may have entered the food chain. And we do not know
:15:31. > :15:36.where they have gone because they it went to England. Others were
:15:36. > :15:40.aware of the situation at the ports. We began to notice that there were
:15:40. > :15:45.certain individuals using reports on a regular basis, sometimes three
:15:45. > :15:50.or four times a week, taking horses out of this country and we could
:15:50. > :15:58.not understand why. It did not make any sense. Why would people be
:15:58. > :16:02.spending money moving animals which had no value? The US PCA decided to
:16:02. > :16:06.mount a surveillance operation. It began with this man, Lawrence
:16:06. > :16:10.McAllister, a horse trader from County Antrim who was making
:16:10. > :16:15.repeated trips to the north of England with trailer loads of Irish
:16:15. > :16:20.horses. When he was arrested after driving off the ferry in Scotland,
:16:20. > :16:24.the team had their first major breakthrough. He decided to
:16:25. > :16:29.transport animals which were unfit for Transport. The animals were
:16:29. > :16:35.suffering. They were lame and could not stand on the lorry. Bay and
:16:35. > :16:42.powder but Laurie. During that process they discovered 40 forged
:16:42. > :16:48.Irish horse passports and a box of microchips -- they impounded for
:16:48. > :16:54.the lorry. Our insider says McAllister was part of a wider
:16:54. > :16:58.criminal enterprise. In fact, he was one of the ringleaders in began
:16:58. > :17:04.our insider worked for, delivering horses to England which were not
:17:04. > :17:14.fit for human consumption. He was one of the top men. What do you
:17:14. > :17:15.
:17:15. > :17:21.mean? He would have been in the big gang, so he would. Was he taking
:17:21. > :17:27.horses from Dublin or Belfast? far as I knew, he would be taking
:17:27. > :17:32.them out through the north, through Belfast. Lawrence McAllister was
:17:32. > :17:36.charged with animal cruelty and told not to work with horses. He
:17:36. > :17:41.did not listen. He was later stopped as a passenger in this
:17:42. > :17:46.lorry in Scotland carrying two horses. The vehicle was driven by
:17:46. > :17:51.this man, Kieran Murphy from South Armagh. But Murphy and McAllister
:17:51. > :17:58.were not just transporting horses. Hidden in the back of the lorry was
:17:58. > :18:01.a large amount of cannabis. Murphy and McAllister are now in prison in
:18:01. > :18:07.Scotland. McAllister was also convicted of animal cruelty rising
:18:07. > :18:13.from the charges on his previous trip to Scotland. Lawrence
:18:13. > :18:18.McAllister was caught in Scotland with drugs. Were you surprised?
:18:18. > :18:23.He had to do something with all the money so I suppose that is one way.
:18:23. > :18:28.The conviction of the two men in Scotland showed how the conspiracy
:18:28. > :18:34.was now embracing other forms of criminality but it also helped
:18:34. > :18:41.solve a riddle for the US PCA investigators. Why were so many
:18:41. > :18:45.low-value horses being moved to England? The answer lay in the
:18:45. > :18:50.answers in the lorry, fake passports and a bag of microchips.
:18:50. > :18:55.Now the investigators were able to join the dots and workout that the
:18:55. > :18:58.gang were passing and documented animals off as animals which were
:18:58. > :19:04.fit for human consumption. The big concern was where those animals
:19:04. > :19:09.were heading. This is the Red Lion abattoir in
:19:09. > :19:13.Nantwich, Cheshire. The US PCA said it became a place of interest to
:19:13. > :19:18.them and their investigation about where the Irish horses were being
:19:18. > :19:22.taken to for slaughter. It would also appear to be well known to our
:19:22. > :19:26.insider. I am going to show you a photograph.
:19:26. > :19:33.Can you tell me what this photograph is? It is the factory.
:19:33. > :19:38.We drove in. What factory? The Red Lion. We drove in around the back
:19:38. > :19:47.and at the back there is another intake door. We went in through the
:19:47. > :19:51.back in take tours. Is up a factory you delivered horses on forged
:19:51. > :19:59.passports? Yes. That should never have been slaughtered for the human
:19:59. > :20:03.food chain? Yes. Our insider says he delivered horses to Red Lion
:20:03. > :20:07.abattoir on multiple occasions, horses which had forged
:20:07. > :20:14.documentation and some of which had been recently administered
:20:14. > :20:18.phenylbutazone or bute. Red Lion confirmed they purchased horses
:20:18. > :20:28.from Ireland but insist this is done it legitimately and entirely
:20:28. > :20:44.
:20:44. > :20:50.But when we asked the Food Standards Agency about who decides
:20:50. > :20:54.if the passport is authentic, they told us it is the company's
:20:54. > :20:59.responsibility to ensure they accept horses and passport which
:20:59. > :21:03.have been identified correctly. The FSA has also confirmed to Spotlight
:21:03. > :21:07.that there is an ongoing investigation into inconsistencies
:21:07. > :21:13.around a number of horse passports which have been used for the
:21:13. > :21:19.slaughter of horses at Red Lion. We asked how peak meat exports which
:21:19. > :21:29.operates Red Lion abattoir about that investigation and there
:21:29. > :21:45.
:21:45. > :21:50.representative told us -- High Peak Spotlight understand that they
:21:50. > :21:54.passports under investigation are English horse passports. Red Lion
:21:54. > :21:58.to say that as far back as two years ago they did become concerned
:21:58. > :22:03.about the authenticity of horse passports coming from Ireland. So
:22:03. > :22:07.much so that they said they wrote to the FSA and the Department for
:22:07. > :22:14.the Environment, Food end rural affairs about the issue. DEFRA and
:22:14. > :22:19.the FSA confirmed they received letters in May 2007. Much has been
:22:19. > :22:25.made of these letters in the press. They have been reported as Red Lion
:22:25. > :22:29.blowing the whistle on the Irish horse meat problem but while they
:22:29. > :22:33.do refer to issues with the Irish horse passports, much of their
:22:33. > :22:37.focus is on commercial disadvantages to Red Lion, as to
:22:37. > :22:42.what they see as the over-zealous enforcement of regulations in the
:22:43. > :22:47.UK, as opposed to the regulatory regime in the Republic of Ireland.
:22:47. > :22:52.Red Lion also say they turned away hundreds of horses, many of them
:22:52. > :22:58.from Ireland, in the cases where the paperwork was inadequate. They
:22:58. > :23:04.gave us a specific example of when this happened, explaining on 21st
:23:04. > :23:10.February 2011, they turned away 10 horses supplied by a horse dealer
:23:10. > :23:16.in County Kildare called Mailey cash. We contacted him to ask about
:23:16. > :23:20.his dealings with the Red Lion's owner, Derek Turner.
:23:20. > :23:23.Mailey Cash has agreed to meet me. I am on my way to meet him at a
:23:23. > :23:29.horse fair. There is a specific incident we
:23:29. > :23:33.have been told about in February 2011 where there was a problem with
:23:33. > :23:39.the horse's passports and they were horses from yourself. Have you
:23:39. > :23:49.heard about that? What do you know about it? When was that? We were
:23:49. > :23:50.
:23:50. > :23:57.told it was February 2011. Never. There was never a problem. It was
:23:57. > :24:03.never a problem. And you have been doing business with him since 2011?
:24:03. > :24:10.I have. When was the last time he was over to you? Cripes. It could
:24:10. > :24:16.have been a month ago. I sold him 18 horses. So why did, yes, no
:24:16. > :24:21.problem. As recently as that? To that is very strange. He was
:24:21. > :24:25.singled out as a horse dealer whose horses were turned away from Red
:24:25. > :24:31.Lion abattoir but clearly he has given a different account and what
:24:31. > :24:35.is more, he says Red Lion are among his best customers and he has been
:24:35. > :24:40.sending them horses up until a few weeks ago. His account of his
:24:40. > :24:46.business dealings with Derek Turner, the end of Red Lion abattoir seemed
:24:46. > :24:51.to be backed up by independent evidence. Last year, Hillside
:24:51. > :24:56.animal-welfare charity mounted an investigation into Red Lion,
:24:56. > :24:59.installing secret cameras inside the abattoir. In November 2012 they
:24:59. > :25:09.filmed this footage which appears to show cruelty to horses before
:25:09. > :25:14.
:25:14. > :25:18.The management of Red Lion say that, whilst they do not defend any
:25:18. > :25:22.breaches, these examples were the only problems identified during
:25:23. > :25:26.filming, which recorded the slaughter of hundreds of horses.
:25:26. > :25:34.But the animal welfare charity also wanted to know where bosses were
:25:34. > :25:38.coming from, so be tracked a lorry leaving Red Lion. We filmed lorries
:25:38. > :25:40.unloading courses at the abattoir, then use a clone intelligence-
:25:40. > :25:47.gathering to see where those lorries were going and we found
:25:47. > :25:53.they were going to a horse dealer in Ireland then coming back. They
:25:53. > :25:58.were going to one South West of Dublin. The company -- the charity
:25:58. > :26:03.should us the tracking data they collected, showing the horses came
:26:03. > :26:07.here to County Kildare, this was a November 2012, almost a year and a
:26:07. > :26:14.half after Red Lion said they had turned away horses because of
:26:14. > :26:19.passport issues. We went back to Red Lion to clarify whether they
:26:19. > :26:25.still have concerns about passports supplied by Mr Cash and whether
:26:25. > :26:32.they still used him as a supplier. But they refused to answer any more
:26:33. > :26:36.questions. The export of live horses to
:26:36. > :26:41.England seems to have occurred under a passport system wide open
:26:41. > :26:46.to abuse. But tonight, we can reveal that the story does not end
:26:46. > :26:51.in equine abattoirs and the UK, in fact, there may have been problems
:26:51. > :26:58.closer to home. To understand why, you just have to look at the
:26:58. > :27:03.numbers. In the UK last year, nearly 9,500
:27:03. > :27:09.horses and officially recorded as having been slaughtered. Just under
:27:09. > :27:14.4,500 of them in Red Lion abattoirs. But last year, in the Republic of
:27:14. > :27:18.Ireland, almost 25,000 horses were slaughtered. When it came to
:27:18. > :27:23.slaughtering courses for export into the human food chain in Europe,
:27:23. > :27:30.Ireland eclipsed England by far. And every horse lot of should have
:27:30. > :27:34.had a passport. -- every horse slaughtered. Meet Charlie, by now,
:27:34. > :27:40.maybe the most famous horse in Ireland. Journalists from all over
:27:40. > :27:44.the world have wanted to meet him, because his story gets to the heart
:27:44. > :27:53.of the apparent inadequacies in the Irish passport system. Because
:27:53. > :27:57.Charlie, according to his microchip and passport, is officially dead.
:27:57. > :28:01.After Charlie was found wandering the streets of Longford Town,
:28:01. > :28:07.Hilary Robinson from a horse sanctuary was called out to rescue
:28:07. > :28:10.him. She scanned his microchip, checked official records and
:28:10. > :28:20.discovered that Charlie was recorded as having been slaughtered
:28:20. > :28:21.
:28:21. > :28:26.for human consumption on the 24th March 1920 12. -- 2012.
:28:26. > :28:32.Are you surprised this happened? Knowing what I know now, no. At the
:28:32. > :28:35.time, I was surprised. We had horses that were supposed to be
:28:35. > :28:40.dead that were still alive. We told the department on numerous
:28:40. > :28:45.occasions about the whole passport issue problem, but it is only now
:28:45. > :28:49.people are starting to take notice. Hilary believes that Charlie
:28:49. > :28:55.survive for a reason. He was not large enough to be slaughtered, so
:28:55. > :28:59.his passport was used for another horse. Charlie is small in stature,
:28:59. > :29:06.so I am sure a heavier, worth more money, horse went down the chute to
:29:06. > :29:12.be slaughtered. What do you think of the Irish horse passport system
:29:12. > :29:18.caused Mark -- passport system? we say it is very loose and easy to
:29:18. > :29:23.be misused. It needs to be tighter and more affordable. Would you put
:29:23. > :29:28.an estimate on the number of Charlies out there, horses that
:29:28. > :29:33.have been slaughtered using someone else's identity? I am sure there
:29:33. > :29:36.are hundreds. We are only a small place and have found three. How
:29:36. > :29:43.many more are there across the country and across Europe?
:29:43. > :29:48.Hillary was told by the passport issuing authority that a horse
:29:48. > :29:55.holding Charlie's passport had been recorded as having been slaughtered
:29:55. > :30:02.at an abattoir. Independently, the USPCA were also concerned about
:30:02. > :30:06.this company. Acting on a tip-off, they sent a surveillance team there
:30:06. > :30:10.from the 28 until the 30th March last year, just a few days after
:30:10. > :30:14.the horse bearing Charlie's passport has been recorded as
:30:14. > :30:19.slaughtered. This video is from that surveillance operation,
:30:19. > :30:24.showing a man repeatedly beating a horse to go inside the abattoir. He
:30:24. > :30:29.does it again a few minutes later. When the horse resists, another man
:30:29. > :30:36.appears to reverse a machine towards it. The other man then
:30:36. > :30:40.ushers it inside the abattoir. We informed the company of this
:30:41. > :30:45.footage and asked them to comment. The denied that any of horses had
:30:45. > :30:50.been treated cruelly prior to slaughter. The County Council also
:30:50. > :30:53.confirmed that a vet was pleasant - - was present at the plant on that
:30:53. > :30:58.day. We told the county council about
:30:58. > :31:03.this footage and asked for a comment, but it is not -- but they
:31:03. > :31:06.did not respond. The council said it was not aware of any breach of
:31:06. > :31:09.legislation that would give any cause of concern to the public or
:31:10. > :31:15.the council. There is no evidence that of horses
:31:15. > :31:18.in this footage did not have proper documentation, but there is
:31:19. > :31:23.evidence that concerns had been raised last year in an e-mail to
:31:23. > :31:29.the authorities in the UK about alleged issues with horse passports
:31:29. > :31:34.in this company. This is the e-mail sent to DEFRA in
:31:34. > :31:38.the UK last March. It was written by a whistleblower in Ireland,
:31:39. > :31:43.passed it to someone associated with Red Lion abattoir. That person
:31:43. > :31:48.for readied be e-mailed to DEFRA. We cannot substantiate the serious
:31:48. > :31:53.allegations in his e-mail, which were passed on to the authorities
:31:53. > :31:57.by someone working for a competitor, but a detailed, naming individuals
:31:57. > :32:02.associated, and alleging illegal practices which the whistleblower
:32:02. > :32:07.says should be investigated. We know DEFRA has received this e-mail,
:32:07. > :32:11.because they have confirmed it. We asked DEFRA if they acted on this
:32:11. > :32:16.e-mail. They said it would be normal practice when receiving
:32:16. > :32:21.allegations of this kind for them to alert the Irish Department of
:32:21. > :32:26.Agriculture. So we asked the Department of Agriculture here in
:32:26. > :32:29.Dublin if they had received those allegations. They said they were
:32:29. > :32:35.not aware of them, but the department told us it has
:32:35. > :32:39.possession of a number of horse passports removed from the premises
:32:39. > :32:44.of the alleged company and that those are being examined as part of
:32:44. > :32:48.a wider examination -- investigation. The company said
:32:48. > :32:51.their blood is operated in accordance with all legislation.
:32:51. > :32:56.They also serve the plant is not the subject of any complaint from
:32:56. > :33:01.any of the relevant authorities and denied the allegations in the e-
:33:02. > :33:04.mail sent to DEFRA. Spotlight has also discovered that
:33:04. > :33:09.solicitors for the company have threatened to underrate Robinson
:33:09. > :33:14.with libel proceedings, because they say she has been suggesting
:33:14. > :33:20.another horse was deliberately passed off as Charlie. -- Fred and
:33:20. > :33:25.Hilary Robinson. They denied the company had never had any record of
:33:25. > :33:30.all horse with Charlie's passport. But there was confirmation that the
:33:30. > :33:35.passport was returned and there is no awareness of any circumstances
:33:35. > :33:37.that would happen for any other purpose than to report -- and to
:33:37. > :33:43.record the War Horse as having been slaughtered.
:33:43. > :33:47.The big question, of course, is who knew about the trade of Irish or
:33:47. > :33:51.Cezanne false passports and when? As we have discovered, several
:33:51. > :33:55.Government agencies have been aware for longer than you might find.
:33:55. > :34:00.Spotlight understands that, in November 2011, a multi-agency
:34:00. > :34:05.meeting was held at Aintree Racecourse. One of the subjects
:34:05. > :34:09.discussed was the problem of horse passports and the transport of low
:34:09. > :34:15.Matt Duke Irish horses to English abattoirs. The meeting was attended
:34:16. > :34:21.by representatives from DEFRA, the SS PCA, officials from trading
:34:21. > :34:23.standards, the World Horse Welfare Trust and officials from the
:34:23. > :34:29.Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Northern Ireland.
:34:29. > :34:32.The fact that horse passports more discussed would this -- were
:34:32. > :34:38.discussed would suggest that as far back as two years ago all these
:34:38. > :34:43.agencies knew there was a problem. To actually get all those agencies
:34:43. > :34:47.into one room and talking was a major achievement by someone.
:34:47. > :34:51.Secondly, it would need to be a really important issue to get of
:34:51. > :34:54.those agencies together and talking at the same time. And the third
:34:54. > :34:57.thing is that when that meeting was over the people leaving that
:34:58. > :35:02.meeting, within their own departments, had a responsibility
:35:02. > :35:06.to tidy up and check out anything alleged which fell under their
:35:06. > :35:12.responsibility. We do not believe that happened and I would go so far
:35:12. > :35:16.as to say nothing happened. In 2011, in Aintree, there was a
:35:16. > :35:20.meeting where there were many representatives and two agencies
:35:21. > :35:26.President told us the movement of low horses was discussed. --
:35:26. > :35:30.agencies present. It may have been mentioned about abattoirs, but it
:35:30. > :35:37.was largely about welfare during the transfer of horses. In any
:35:37. > :35:41.event, in Northern Ireland, my staff examine consignments of
:35:41. > :35:47.horses leaving Northern Ireland for England and check their passport
:35:47. > :35:54.and welfare. This woman says they have been aware of this issue for
:35:54. > :35:56.some time, that she alerted authorities to a number of holding
:35:56. > :36:01.yards where low far your horses were corralled together before
:36:01. > :36:04.being moved away in lorries, she suspected, to be slaughtered for
:36:04. > :36:11.human consumption. She said she alerted about the issue time and
:36:11. > :36:16.time again. We contacted the Animal Health and Welfare team at the
:36:16. > :36:21.Department of Agriculture. When would that have been? Around 2005-
:36:21. > :36:26.2006, explaining we felt that these holding yards really did need to be
:36:26. > :36:32.policed. Your first contact them at eight years ago about this problem?
:36:32. > :36:38.Yes. How many times have you been on to them since? Countless times,
:36:38. > :36:43.and continually told it was not there remade, -- We met, nothing to
:36:43. > :36:48.do with them, they did not want to know. Why were the holding of these
:36:48. > :36:52.horses? I do not know why. As I say, if I had been aware of them, or
:36:52. > :37:00.made aware of them, we would have investigated this did the with
:37:00. > :37:05.respect, I have a letter here written telling you about these.
:37:05. > :37:10.was told in 2009 and the concern was these low value horses were
:37:10. > :37:14.being moved from those holding yards to abattoirs in England or to
:37:14. > :37:19.markets in England. If I had the information, and the information on
:37:19. > :37:24.a letter, I would be happy if you could give that to me, and I could
:37:24. > :37:27.investigate that aspect. But if I had information which would have
:37:27. > :37:32.allowed me to investigate, a move would have done so.
:37:32. > :37:35.So how much did the authorities in the South know? The Department of
:37:35. > :37:42.Agriculture in the Republic were not part of the Aintree meeting two
:37:42. > :37:45.years ago. But we understand they were made aware of the problem.
:37:45. > :37:49.The Department of her culture certainly knew there was a problem
:37:49. > :37:53.with Irish horses. -- Department of Agriculture. A problem with
:37:53. > :37:59.movement and with the paperwork. There is no room for manoeuvre on
:37:59. > :38:01.that. That was known. In the Republic, we also know of one
:38:01. > :38:05.approach to the Department of Agriculture which have hard
:38:05. > :38:15.evidence of wrongdoing. In fact, that approach was made by her mac
:38:15. > :38:17.
:38:17. > :38:24.insider. -- our insider. So you went to a department
:38:24. > :38:30.official in the Republic? You told them what you were working at? Yes.
:38:30. > :38:37.What did he say? To let them is clean itself up. And you went back
:38:37. > :38:42.to work? I showed him, even two books with me that day. What books?
:38:42. > :38:49.Dodgy horse books and he had them in his own hand. Did he keep them?
:38:49. > :38:54.No, he handed them back to me. did not want to know? He did not.
:38:54. > :38:58.Did you ever go back? No, why would you go back?
:38:58. > :39:02.We asked the Department of Agriculture if they had any record
:39:02. > :39:07.of what the insider had told them. The department has said it does not
:39:07. > :39:10.comment on individual cases. We also asked on a number of occasions
:39:10. > :39:16.for an interview with the Minister. The Department declined and said
:39:16. > :39:21.the Minister was too busy. The horsemeat crisis began when
:39:21. > :39:26.Irish officials at tested supermarket products for equine DNA.
:39:26. > :39:32.It seems that some parts of that story are now coming full circle
:39:32. > :39:37.back to Ireland. Checks on horse slaughtering and the export of live
:39:37. > :39:42.horses are now being intensified, both north and south of the border,
:39:42. > :39:49.but according to our insider, that is simply a case of shutting the