THE disgraced farmer at the centre of last year's £8bn foot-and-mouth crisis will be allowed to keep £50,000 Government compensation, it was confirmed last night.

Bobby Waugh was banned from keeping farm animals for 15 years by a court yesterday and was also ordered to be electronically tagged for three months and to keep an overnight curfew.

Last night, the 56-year-old's sentence was condemned as too lenient by those who witnessed first hand the devastating epidemic which brought many rural communities to the brink of ruin.

Waugh, of St Luke's Road, Pallion, Sunderland, had earlier been found guilty of five charges of failing to notify the relevant authorities of foot-and-mouth disease; two counts of causing unnecessary suffering to pigs; one count of feeding his animals unprocessed waste and one charge of failing to properly dispose of animal by-products.

The farmer, who ran a fattening unit at Heddon-on-the-Wall, Northumberland, was also ordered to pay £10,000 towards the costs of his trial at South-East Northumberland Magistrates Court after District Judge James Prowse took into account his finances.

But Waugh and his brother Ronnie have been allowed to keep the compensation they received from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) last year for the slaughter of their livestock.

Last night, David Maughan, chairman of the Durham and Northumberland National Farmers Union livestock committee, who had more than 200 cattle slaughtered during the outbreak, said: "I know an awful lot of people who have suffered financially and got caught up in the devastating consequences of foot-and-mouth.

"They are entitled to feel that this is unfair. This man got quite a bit of compensation and one would have thought that he would have been able to meet more of a financial cost.

"He has been found guilty of very bad farming practices and allowing foot-and-mouth to spread in the way that it did."

The maximum penalty for causing unnecessary suffering to animals is six months in prison for each offence, while each count of failing to report foot-and-mouth disease can attract a fine of up to £5,000.

North-East MEP Martin Callanan, who earlier this year organised a visit of MEPs from all over Europe to visit affected farms, said: "It would seem absolutely crazy that he has received taxpayers' money and been allowed to keep it when you consider the devastating effect that his actions had.

"I am amazed he has escaped a prison sentence and not been heavily fined."

Last year's outbreak was discovered on February 19 at an Essex abattoir supplied by the pig fattening unit Waugh ran with his brother Ronald, who was also jointly charged but was too ill to stand trial.

Government inspectors visited the Waughs' farm and found obvious signs of the disease with lesions on the pigs said to be up to 12 days old.

Paddy Cosgrove, QC, prosecuting, told the court: "They could not have been missed by someone as experienced as the defendant and someone who said he was making daily observations."

The inspectors also discovered the farmer had been feeding his animals untreated swill.

District Judge Prowse said he could have jailed Waugh for the animal cruelty charges, but did not do so because of his previous good character and the fact that he was in poor health, suffering from angina.

He had reminded himself during the case that Waugh was not standing trial for being the source of the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

Waugh was not before the court to act as a scapegoat and this was an important message to send out.

He ruled Waugh must stay at his home between 8pm and 7am for the next three months in what was described as a "form of house arrest".

Despite the compensation payment, the court heard that Bobby Waugh had now built up an overdraft of £57,000.

After the case, Northumberland County Council Trading Standards officer Mick King said: "The sentence passed today reflects the seriousness of the offences that Bobby Waugh has committed."

New Pig disease scare

Vets have found what may be signs of a pig disease which was wiped out in the UK 13 years ago, it was revealed yesterday.

The discovery was made at the same Essex abattoir where the first case of foot-and-mouth was detected in last year's epidemic.

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) says routine testing in pigs resulted in positive tests for Aujeszky's disease in six pigs.

Further tests will be carried out over the weekend at premises in North and West Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cheshire, West Sussex and Lincolnshire, for other signs of the disease.

Defra was keen to point out the blood test may be a result of a false laboratory reading or a contamination of samples.

It added that Aujeszky's is mainly a disease in pigs, and is not in the same league as foot-and-mouth.