Nanny state hint in Defra’s case on condemned bull, says judge

A judge yesterday attacked the “strident manner” in which Government officials and lawyers are calling for a prize-winning bull to be destroyed after testing positive for bovine TB.

Mr Justice McCombe said the case presented to the High Court on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) was giving the impression “we know best – the nanny state knows best”.

The way some documents had been presented “just raises the hackles, I am afraid”, said the judge.

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His comments came as Ken Jackson, of Forlorn Hope Farm in South Yorkshire, and his daughter Kate McNeil made a last-ditch attempt to save the life of their “much-loved” pedigree bull Hallmark Boxter, also known as Boxy.

The pair are seeking judicial review. They dispute the validity of the TB test that condemned their “unique and irreplaceable” showground champion and want a re-test.

They are offering to pay for it themselves.

A positive blood sample was taken from the bull in April last year and Defra officials issued notices of intended slaughter, leading to a long-running legal battle to save Boxter’s life.

Mr Jackson, whose farm is at Stubbs Walden, north of Doncaster, and humorously named after an old battle site, argued the officers who took the sample mixed two half-full vials in the field, contrary to written procedures.

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He wants the positive test declared null and void by the courts.

Julie Anderson, appearing for Defra, said the bull poses a dangerous threat of spreading bovine TB and must be destroyed.

She argued there was “no evidence whatsoever” the positive blood sample had been contaminated, and said it was too late to conduct an effective fresh test, and it is now impossible to prove the bull is free of TB.

At the start of yesterday’s hearing, Ms Anderson opposed moves by the farmers’ lawyers to call oral evidence and cross examine witnesses, including Defra technicians who conducted the test, to support their case that Boxter’s blood samples had been mixed. As she made her submissions, the judge told her: “I don’t like the strident manner in which this case is being put from the beginning”.

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The judge said the Defra case “might be right – might be wrong” in its arguments, but there was evidence of “increasing anger and stridency” in Defra documents before the court that was “wholly misplaced”.

He was also extremely concerned over the way Defra was putting the case simply as “black and white”, which it definitely was not.

“It is a difficult matter,” said the judge.

Ms Anderson said if that was the position, it was entirely her error - “I am sorry I have done that.”

She told the court that Defra had gone to great lengths to “take the farmers with them” over the bovine TB issue.

The testing regime was of benefit to everybody.

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She said: “It is an absolutely crucial principle of their policy to try to take the farmers with them. It is why they did not storm the farm and simply take the animal but listened to what was being said and investigated concerns.”

The judge ruled that oral evidence should be given and witnesses cross-examined and that it would be “unjust” for him to go back on another judge’s previous decision to allow that to take place.

The court hearing continues today.