Tourist drive as disease marches on

As the drive was launched in North Yorkshire, elsewhere in the county foot-and-mouth was confirmed in an area previously clear - at Ashes Farm, Ruswarp, near Whitby.

The news shattered hopes among farmers in the Esk Valley area, who had so far managed to keep the disease at bay.

There was also concern as to how the infection had spread. The nearest case, at Danby Wiske, near Northallerton, is more than 40 miles away.

Meanwhile, in County Durham, a retired farmer's home went up in flames - days after foot-and-mouth claimed the sheep he helped care for.

After a lifetime in farming, widower Joseph Stephenson, 72, had been content to help his daughter, Susan Tuck, look after the flock at Tow Law.

Yesterday, the misery he felt at losing the animals was compounded by a blaze at his home, Lane House Farm, near Hamsterley. Ministry of Agriculture officials on duty nearby called 999 when Mr Stephenson spotted the blaze.

Before they left the farm, firefighters had to peel off their uniforms and pack them in plastic bags to be disinfected.

Meanwhile, animals will be burned as well as buried at a new disposal site which will stay open as long as the crisis continues, villagers were told last night.

Three graves, each 400m long and 60m wide, and two burning pits measuring 200m by 50m, will be less than half a mile from the village of Tow Law, in County Durham.

There is also an area planned for slaughtering healthy animals.

Maff bought the 200 acres of former opencast land this week after it was offered by contractors HJ Banks at the weekend.

l A 37-year-old man appeared before magistrates yesterday accused of the murder of a slaughterman while working at the site of the mass cull in Cumbria.

Keith Hubbard, of Atherstone, in Warwickshire, faced one charge of murdering former Butcher Steven Smart, 28, of St Leonards, East Sussex, at Carlisle Magistrates' Court.

He was remanded in custody until April 12.