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

And a High Court judge 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.

North Yorkshire County Council, Trading Standards officers left York Crown Court today without commenting.

But Christopher Bowman, licensee of The Drovers Inn, Bishop Thornton, 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.

He added 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.

For Trading Standards, David De Jehan 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."

High Court 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.

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.

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