Showjumping official linked to abattoir in horsemeat row
THE owner of an abattoir involved in the horsemeat row is an internationally renowned showjumping official, the Sunday Express can reveal.
Valerie Turner has more than 30 years of experience working with some of the sport’s biggest names at such events as the Horse of the Year Show and Hickstead.
She is also well known to the GB gold medal-winning London 2012 Olympics team.
Turner, 65, owns the Red Lion Abattoir in Nantwich, Cheshire, where last week carcasses of horses tested in the food row inquiry had traces of the drug bute.
Just weeks previously three of her slaughtermen had their licences revoked after the release of footage secretly filmed by animal rights campaigners claiming horses at the site were mistreated.
British showjumping bosses stepped in and the respected judge was “stood down” after matters of “equine welfare” were brought to their attention.
Last night at her farm at Rowland in the Derbyshire Peak District, Mrs Turner said: “All this has got completely out of hand. It’s ridiculous.”
She denied being an office holder or director of the company that operates the abattoir and had not been there for nearly a year.
She said: “I have no input in its day-to-day running. My involvement is restricted to bookkeeping. I’ve never had any idea about the mistreatment of animals.”