In June and July, 2015, 15 people were sickened with E. coli O157 from Robinsons Butchers and Caterers in Billingham, UK.

In May 2016, Durham County Council decided it would take no action against the butcher even though cross-contamination was the likely cause.

Yesterday, Stockton Council decided to prosecute Robinsons.

David Huntley of Gazette Live reports Janet Bell and Trevor Robinson, of Robinsons Butchers, are due to appear at Teesside Magistrates’ Court today charged with food safety and hygiene breaches.

A previous report by Public Health England’s outbreak control team stated the likely cause of the outbreak was cross-contamination from raw meat to ready–to-eat food at Robinsons’ Billingham branch and “to a lesser degree” at the Wingate branch.

The authority has now mounted a prosecution against Robinson, 53, and Bell, 55.

Bell and Robinson are accused of breaching food hygiene rules at the Billingham shop by selling cooked ham, pork, beef and ham and egg quiche that was “unfit for human consumption” due to contamination by “pathogenic microorganisms.”

The offences are alleged to have taken place between July 2 and 20 last year.

Of the 15 people affected in the E. coli outbreak, 10 needed hospital treatment of which seven went on to develop hemolytic uremic syndrome, a serious condition affecting the kidneys.

All have since recovered.

One victim was Tia Donaldson who suffered kidney failure aged 11.

The youngster’s mum Rachael Donaldson, a volunteer from Billingham, told The Gazette in August last year that Tia was left in a critical condition after a series of strokes stemming from the poisoning.

Rachael said: “She’s had bleeds to her brain. On one occasion she couldn’t feel her left side.

“I was sat right next to her and she kept saying ‘please get my mum, you’re not my mum’.

“She was begging for me to be there.”