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Smokies farmer ‘has no assets’

A LLANDYSUL farmer with a string of convictions for food hygiene offences will have to pay nothing concerning the money made from his illegal business dealing in ‘smokies’.

Carmelo Gale pocketed large sums of money from his filthy ‘slaughterhouse’ in which he butchered then blow-torched sheep carcasses to make the illegal meat.

However, the authorities’ attempts to get at the proceeds of his criminal activities have come up with nothing.

In 2017, Gale received a suspended prison sentence of eight months’ jail.

Found in the back of Carmelo Gale’s van

“Smokies” are made when carcasses of animals (usually sheep or goats) are gutted, shorn, and hung before being scorched or “smoked” with a blowtorch.

Smokies have been illegal across the European Union since 1987.

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Gale’s original arrest and conviction followed an incident in which his van was stopped by Police near Swansea in 2017. When the unrefrigerated vehicle was inspected, 11 blackened sheep carcasses were found inside, together with bags of other animal parts.

In a subsequent search of Gale’s farm in Llandysul, officers found evidence of Gale’s illegal slaughter operation and the production of smokies.

Gale has previous convictions for 14 offences. All bar one relate to illegal meat production.

At the 2017 sentencing hearing, the Court was told that Gale believed that smokies should be legalised and there was no harm in their production in unsanitary and unregulated slaughterhouses such as his own.

Following that conviction, Gale’s business affairs were probed by authorities seeking to recover the proceeds of crime from him.


Gale hung torched corpses outside

He appeared before Swansea Crown Court as the Court determined an application about the recovery effort.

The Court was told that although Gale had made more than £100,000 from his crimes, he has no realisable assets in his name against which recovery can be made.

A payment by Gale of £30,000 towards prosecution costs was, his barrister told the Court, the product of a family whip-round.

Gale has twelve months to make the payment.

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