FMD farmer says he may never return to Ireland

The sheep dealer who took foot-and-mouth disease to Northern Ireland has claimed he may never be able to return to the area.

John Walsh, who is in hiding after transporting the diseased animals, apologised for his unwitting role in the outbreak but has insisted he has been wrongly victimised.

So far, Northern Ireland has had only one outbreak of foot-and-mouth, at a farm in Meigh, south Armagh involving sheep shipped over from Carlisle by Mr Walsh earlier this month.

But the dealer claims he has been vilified when all he was trying to do was earn a living in difficult circumstances.

He said: "I have a family in Ireland and a special person in Ireland, but as true as God this minute if any of them special people to me died I'd hardly go back to bury them. That's what I feel about the way I have been treated."

Mr Walsh claims the sheep were supposed to go to a factory in Northern Ireland, but after that deal fell through he was left searching for another destination for the animals.

"I didn't start the foot-and-mouth here in England, I unwittingly brought a suspect case to Northern Ireland," he said. "So what am I supposed to do, hang myself?"

He also insists that he has cooperated fully with Government officials investigating where the sheep which did not end up in Meigh were taken.