He was also told to pay pounds 500 towards prosecution costs. Four other similar charges were withdrawn.Sentencing Roper, chairman of the magistrates, Brian Smith, said: “The bench feels very seriously about making false statements, in particular with something likely to enter the food chain.”For the defence, Chris Read had told the court that the offences had been due to a clerical error. He added that Roper was unaware that the cow which had died in 1993 had officially been diagnosed as having BSE.Mr Read said: “”We are talking about a very busy farmer working long hours who simply mishandled his paperwork.”. Flesh-eating bug kills new mother

A mother who contracted a flesh-eating bug has died in hospital. He was fined pounds 2,500 for each of the four charges, to which he had pleaded guilty. It wasn’t a requirement that everyone had to sign the declaration but if they did it showed BSE had not occurred and that affected the value of the cattle.”Mr Irshad said that Mr Roper had been informed in October 5 1993 that one of his cows had suffered from BSE before being slaughtered.This finding, he added, meant the farmer could not sell cattle under the declaration until 1999 Roper’s case pre-dated the recent BSE scare.

The court was told that trading standards officers from Hereford and Worcester County Council were alerted after a vet at Worcester Livestock Market received results of a routine computer check to verify the farmer’ claims.Mohammed Irshad, prosecuting, said that signing the declaration affected the sale value of cattle.He said the four charges had resulted from documents signed by Roper at three different sales last year.”This affects the export value of cows and their value at auction. A farmer who falsely claimed that four cows he sold at auction had come from a BSE-free farm was yesterday fined pounds 10,000. Joseph Roper signed a Ministry of Agriculture declaration which stated the Friesian cows had come from a farm which had not experienced BSE within six years of their sale last year.
But yesterday magistrates in Worcester heard that Roper, 42, who owns 200-acre Lower House Farm in Suckley, Hereford and Worcester, had reported a case of BSE in June 1993. A spokesman for Virgin said: “We are about halfway through the assessment of whether the project is viable. Everyone is very supportive but no one thought of the plan before. About half the cost of the line would go on infrastructure and then new trains would have to be leased.”.

Mr Branson met the Secretary of State for Transport, Sir George Young, last month to outline his plans for what would be the first rail service under the “open access” rules created by the rail privatisation act.Virgin is also in talks with the officials of the offices of both the Rail Regulator and the Franchising Director. But there is Shadow Cabinet responsibility and all of us have to take that into account. And I am reassured that Clare, in her view, actually put forward the collectively responsible policy of the Shadow Cabinet.”She has made that clear. She has been somewhat annoyed at the mischievous way her remarks have been interpreted in the press.”Clare has made one or two personal remarks about her own personal situation. She is entitled to make a personal remark.”"Tony Blair has a serious problem on his hands,” said a spokesman for Conservative Central Office.”He either has to tell the truth about Labour’s tax plans or sack Clare Short.”People want to know what taxes they will have to pay under a Labour government He has to tell the truth. Middle income families, all families, want an answer,” the spokesman added.Leading article, page 14.

The IRA bomb that accidentally detonated on a bus in central London, killing the terrorist carrying it, went off because it was an old device that had been badly maintained, police have concluded. Virgin City Linkwould use existing lines from Moorgate to King’s Cross Thameslink and then the North London line, before linking up with the pounds 300m Heathrow Express route.
Virgin hopes its line can be completed to open at the same time as – or shortly after – the Heathrow Express. Railtrack yesterday confirmed that it has had talks with Richard Branson’s Virgin group over plans for a rail service linking the City of London directly with Heathrow Airport. A pounds 200,000 study by consultants Steer, Davies, Gleave, commissioned by Virgin, suggests that the link, using mostly existing track, could be built for as little as pounds 50m and would provide a 34-minute service between Moorgate in the City and the airport once the Heathrow Express to and from Paddington is completed in 1998. Only 47 per cent thought the Prince of Wales could be a good monarch, compared to 82 per cent five years ago.Sixty-one per cent wanted a referendum on the monarchy’s future, though 62 per cent said they would still vote for its retention.Support for the monarchy was particularly fragile in Scotland and Wales, where 71 per cent and 70 per cent respectively said they wanted a referendum at some point.. That there will be changes, I think is certain, but they will be gentle and they will be consistent with the rhythm and tenor of the age.”The Prime Minister was confident that people would instinctively and intellectually decide Britain would not be better off without a monarchy.The Mori poll, commissioned for last night’s World in Action on ITV, showed a continued majority for the monarchy, but the 2,000 voters questioned had a worrying message for the Royal Family.Asked who should succeed the Queen, the Princess Royal came top with 33 per cent, leaving Charles on 26 per cent. I can’t conceive of this country having anything other than a constitutional monarchy.”The monarchy is a very powerful institution indeed, and I think this Queen is a very fine exponent of a constitutional monarchy, so I think that the monarchy will emerge from its present troubles.”I see no reason for revolutionary changes…these things evolve.

But as the Prime Minister restated his own royalist beliefs, poll figures confirmed a growing public disenchantment with the monarchy and a preference for the Princess Royal to succeed the Queen, not Prince Charles.
Twenty-three per cent of people questioned for a Mori poll said Britain would be better off without a queen or king, compared with only five per cent who thought so 12 years ago. Though Mr Major, in a pre-recorded interview on BBC television’s One O’Clock News to mark the Queen’s 70th birthday on 21 April, was eloquent in his praise for the Queen and her understanding of politics, he made no direct reference to any of her family.Asked in general terms about recent troubles, he said: “Well obviously that turbulence has been very unwelcome…but the constitutional monarchy itself, in my judgement, is rock solid. It was revealed in the Independent on Sunday that several witnesses who may be able to identify the terrorists have been found by anti terrorist officers. Some are on the fringes of the East End underworld and spotted the bombers in the final stages of their mission.. John Major yesterday declared Britain’s constitutional monarchy to be “rock solid”, predicting that any changes in its style and duties would be “gentle”.