Truth will be sought by outbreak inquiry

Feb 21 2008 by Gary Marsh, Cynon Valley Leader

Dead insects were found

DEAD flies, woodlice and insects were found at a butchers 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.

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 be called to 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 five-year-old Mason Jones, who died.

Prof Pennington said Mason was “very much in my mind”.

The E.coli O157 strain outbreak affected 44 schools in the South Wales Valleys.

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 the Bridgend-based butchers.

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.

Prof Pennington said: “If mistakes have been made, we will have to point those out so that we do not make those sort of mistakes again.”

‘He and Mason were so close’
THE PARENTS of the late Mason Jones – Sharon Mills and Nathan Jones – led parents of children affected by the outbreak into Crickhowell House at the start of the inquiry.

“It is difficult. Two-and-a-half years on, it is still upsetting to talk about what happened to Mason but I am strong enough, and I know that I have got to be strong enough, to get justice for Mason – or some sort of justice,” said Sharon Mills.

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

Chandler was “withdrawn and he is very worried about what he eats,” said Ms Mills.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

Garyn still has psychological scars
CYNON Valley schoolboy Garyn Price and his parents are still waiting to learn the extent of damage to his kidneys as a result of the severe illness he suffered during the E.coli outbreak.

It could be another five years before they know the truth. It has also left the 12-year-old with psychological scars, distorting his relationship with food.

“If he has an upset stomach he starts to panic – he’s only 12, he should be carefree,” said Garyn’s mother Julie, of Brook Street, Aberaman.

“If we get a takeaway from a new place and something’s not right, that is it for Garyn. He has been left with psychological problems.”

Garyn was a pupil at Blaengwawr Primary School, Aberaman, at the start of the E.coli outbreak in September 2005.

The first symptoms of poisoning started while he was on a family holiday in Spain but became dramatically worse on his return to Wales. He was admitted to hospital and suffered renal failure. His condition became so serious he was airlifted to Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool, where he underwent dialysis and a blood transfusion.

“We have waited and waited for this inquiry – I am just Julie Price and I am sure a lot of the details will go over my head, but I believe it is so important that people understand the human side of the outbreak. There are still families who are suffering.”

Mason Jones, a five-year-old pupil at Deri Primary School, Bargoed, died.

Butcher William Tudor, who ran Bridgend-based John Tudor and Son, was jailed for 12 months in September 2007 after admitting supplying contaminated meat to the schools and for breaches of food hygiene regulations.