£1.3m for foot-and-mouth blamed sheep dealer

A Devon sheep-dealer officially blamed for the spread of foot-and-mouth has received £1.3m in Government compensation.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food traced the movement of livestock belonging to William Cleave to dozens of outbreaks across Britain.

Mr Cleave has been compensated for the slaughter of his own infected animals.

He said: "I know it's a lot of money, but then I had a lot of stock."

He added he had still been left out of pocket. "The Government revised the figures just after my livestock was valued - I reckon I'm £100,000 down."

Mr Cleave carried the disease from Northumberland when he bought sheep in a local market, six days before the official outbreak in Essex.