THE farmer blamed for starting the foot-and-mouth crisis could face court costs running into thousands of pounds after a magistrates' court ruling was overturned.

Bobby Waugh was left to pay only £520 after Sunderland magistrates agreed to virtually write off the £10,000 cost of bringing a prosecution against him.

That decision has now been declared void by a district judge and new costs are to be set.

Mr Waugh, of St Luke's Road, Pallion, Sunderland, was convicted in June, at South-East Northumberland Magistrates' Court in Bedlington, but payment of costs was transferred to Sunderland as the nearest court to his home.

The Northern Echo understands the decision to write off the costs was reviewed because it was felt the clerk in the case had not fully briefed magistrates about his finances.

Mr Waugh appeared recently before a fines court in Sunderland when the bench remitted £9,480, leaving the 57-year-old to find £520.

Last night, Hexham MP Peter Atkinson said the decision to reduce Mr Waugh's costs had angered farmers whose lives were wrecked by his "recklessness".

Mr Waugh, who ran a pig fattening unit at Heddon-on-the-Wall, Northumberland, was found guilty of five charges of failing to notify the authorities of an outbreak of foot-and-mouth, two of causing unnecessary suffering to pigs, and one each of feeding his animals unprocessed waste and failing to dispose of animal by-products.

He was banned from keeping animals, other than domestic pets, for 15 years and given a three-month electronic curfew.

Together with his brother, Ronald, the pair supplied animals to Essex abattoir Cheale Meats, where the first traces of the outbreak were discovered on February 19 last year.

Charges against Ronald Waugh were adjourned indefinitely, due to ill health.

The court heard Bobby Waugh had a £57,000 overdraft but the home he shared with his brother and two sisters was worth £40,000.

A spokesman for Northumberland County Council, whose trading standards department brought the case, said it would not comment on the costs.