Motorway commuters see farm carnage

Hundreds of animal carcases are still in flames after being set alight on a farm overnight in the desperate battle against the foot and mouth disease outbreak.

Commuters on the M25 could see clouds of smoke from two 100m-long piles of animal remains on Old England Farm at Little Warley, near Brentwood, Essex.

The fires were started at 11pm on Sunday and included stock from the farm and from the neighbouring Cheal Meats abattoir.

Dry waste from the abattoir, where foot and mouth was first discovered in the country a week ago, is being added to the fires.

Infected animals from Old England Farm, owned by the Cheal family, were among those burned.

Work is expected to start later on burning dead animals at two other affected farms within a 20 mile radius of Little Warley, Ministry of Agriculture officials said.

At Great Warley Hall farm, in nearby Great Warley, 200 cattle carcases were awaiting incineration.

And at Greenacres Farm, in Canewdon, near Southend, the bodies of 500 pigs await the same fate.