Colin Houston, deputy head of the enforcement division of the UK Food Standards Agency told a public inquiry yesterday that  E.coli butcher William Tudor (nice tag line) falsified crucial health and safety documents and even lied about receiving hygiene awards.

The inquiry heard the claims had been made in a document known as a HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) plan which Tudor, as a butcher, was required by law to prepare and implement to help reduce the risk to the public.

Mr Houston told yesterday’s hearing in Cardiff Bay that another of Tudor’s false claims in his HACCP plan had been to suggest that his factory had completely separate areas for the preparation and handling of raw and cooked meat.

Mr Houston told the inquiry he would have expected environmental health officers to check whether this was in fact the case during inspections of the premises on Bridgend Industrial Estate.

I can’t wait to hear from the inspectors.

The inquiry also heard from a handwriting expert who found Tudor had falsified vital records detailing the temperature meat was stored at and cleaning records.

"There is conclusive evidence, as she (the handwriting expert) put it, that the logs and cleaning standards forms dated July 2004 onwards, were not completed on a daily/weekly basis, but that the batches of entries were made at one time.”