A North Yorkshire landlord was celebrating today after Trading Standards officers dropped their prosecution against him under beef-on-the-bone regulations.

Restaurant owner Chris Bowman celebrates his victory at York Crown Court today Picture: Steven Bradshaw

And a judge at York Crown Court has said that the Government, not North Yorkshire ratepayers, should pay the defence costs of the long-running court case because Whitehall actively hindered the prosecution under the law ministers made.

Christopher Bowman, licensee of The Drovers Inn, Bishop Thornton, near Harrogate, said: "I cannot describe the feeling. It is joy and ecstasy."

He added: "During the period of the prosecution I have not been able to say what I really want to say but the whole thing has been a sham, the whole political rumblings have been a total sham, and we want to prove how much of a sham it has been".

He is consulting with his lawyers before making a further statement.

Gordon Gresty, head of North Yorkshire Trading Standards, said after the case that his department felt "let down" by central Government.

His staff had repeatedly expressed their concern about the lack of evidence from Government so they could prosecute the case.

He said: "I think this judgement was absolutely right.

"The real argument was with the legality of the regulations, and that is the responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, not us.

"We asked the ministry to take over the case, and they wouldn't do that."

The council felt it had no alternative but to prosecute out of fairness to other traders and because of the Government pressure.

David De Jehan, for trading standards, said that officers bought a T-bone steak at Mr Bowman's inn, on July 30, 1998, and warned him he was breaking the regulations.

"He told them that they could do what they chose with the beef and was less charming than that thereafter."

Judge Mr Justice Steel said that the Ministry responsible for the regulations should pay for the prosecution because it had "stonewalled" county council efforts to prove the validity of the regulations.

In the end the county council dropped the prosecution because the consultation that led to the law appeared to have been a "sham" because it did not consult the people most closely involved and the Minister involved had made up his mind beforehand.

The judge entered a formal verdict of not guilty on two charges under the beef-on-the-bone regulations against Mr Bowman, 37, who had denied both.

Mr Bowman said that he held nothing against the Trading Standards officers involved, but that their hand was forced by the Government and they never wanted to pursue the matter.

His is the last case in the courts under the beef-on-the-bone regulations.

He has never stopped selling beef on the bone meals.

Martyn Smith, spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, said: "The decision to take legal action under beef-on-the-bone legislation is for Trading Standards to take.

"It is not down to the ministry to do the legal work, it is down to Trading Standards."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.