TWO SLAUGHTERMEN who worked for an Ashburton abattoir have had their licences revoked and could face prosecution for animal cruelty.

The move, by governing body the Meat Hygiene Service, followed an undercover investigation by animal rights pressure group, Animal Aid.

The MHS is currently looking at the evidence for possible future prosecutions.

Head of campaigns for Animal Aid, Kate Fowler, said: "We are heartened to see that action was taken pretty swiftly.

"The MHS didn't really have a choice because the evidence was pretty shocking and we hope there is, and will support, a prosecution of them and the management."

However, a spokesman for the abbatoir, Tom Lang Ltd, said they were disappointed standards had not been sufficiently high.

And he added they were 'extremely disappointed' it had not been drawn to their attention before.

The national campaign group filmed three employees at Tom Lang Ltd, Gages Farm, Buckfastleigh Road, between October 19 and November 3 slaughtering sheep and pigs.

They claim its film shows livestock being 'kicked, slapped, thrown and improperly stunned at the Soil Association-approved abattoir'.

A spokesman for the meat hygiene inspectors confirmed one of the breaches of welfare regulations on the film was the heads of six sheep were removed before they had been left to bleed for a minimum of 20 seconds.

At the time, senior MHS vets visited Tom Lang and immediately suspended three workers, revoking the licences of two of them, which means they cannot work as slaughter-men again, and serving a warning on the third employee.

The owner subsequently employed a foreman to supervise operations and installed CCTV to record the slaughtering process.

Steve McGrath, chief executive of MHS, said: "Animal cruelty within a slaughterhouse is not tolerated by the Meat Hygiene Service.

"Our staff take appropriate enforcement action if breaches of animal welfare legislation in slaughterhouses are witnessed or evidence provided of such incidents taking place.

"The activities and abuse which occurred at Tom Lang slaughterhouse does not reflect a systemic problem across the meat industry."

The MHS said there had been 'no further developments', but evidence was being assessed with a view to prosecuting the employees involved.

Steve Lomax, technical advisor from the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers, who represents the abattoir, said the meat industry had 'no problem' with the campaign group raising issues which are 'in the public interest'.

Speaking to the Herald Express in December, he said the management of the abattoir had been 'distressed that their staff were not following the highest standards of animal welfare'.

He added the film had not highlighted 'deliberate cruelty or indifference' to animal welfare, saying: "We are talking about occasional technical breaches which might well compromise animal welfare and cannot be tolerated."

Mr Lomax said a full-time vet at the abattoir, paid for equally by the slaughterhouse and the Meat Hygiene Service, should have corrected staff straight away for any errors.

But MHS maintain the slaughtermen are the responsibility of the slaughterhouse operator.