‘And, much though they claim to love horses, the British public are far more concerned about the welfare of stray cats and dogs.’

‘Oh, yes. Try slaughtering those for meat, and see what sort of outcry you’d get.’

‘Live export of horses for slaughter isn’t actually illegal,’ said Hurst. ‘But there haven’t been any exports for several years. The government put a mandatory minimum value on any horse exported abroad. It’s intended to be an amount more than any horse slaughterer would be willing to pay. In effect, it allows the export of racehorses, but blocks the live trade in food animals.’

‘But horses of higher value must be exported for competitions and breeding.’

‘Yes. And no doubt some of them end up joining the slaughter trail somewhere else in Europe.’

‘What about horse passports?’ asked Hitchens.

‘Just a minute, I asked that,’ said Hurst. ‘Since March 2006, any horses sent to abattoirs in England must have a passport before they can be slaughtered. They contain details of any medications given to the animal, to ensure certain drugs don’t enter the human food chain. There’s a section in the passport where the owner can declare whether a horse is intended for human consumption or not.’

‘So if you don’t want your dobbin turned into horse steaks or salami, you can say so.’

‘In Section Nine of your horse passport, yes. The rules are pretty strict on identification and so on. The valuation certificate has to be issued by someone on the DEFRA list, and is only valid for a month.’

‘Are these rules working?’

‘Yes. Apparently, European Union legislation could overturn the regulations at any time. If the restriction were removed, the main market would be the horse abattoirs in southern Italy. Live animals would be on the road for days before slaughter.’

‘When you think of that, Hawleys and those UK horsemeat distributors start to look like a godsend,’ said Cooper.

‘So,’ said Hitchens. ‘What’s the outcome of all this? Are horses being stolen to be sold for meat? What do we think?’

‘We don’t actually have any evidence of that.’

‘But it must be a suspicion, given all the links in the chain.’

‘You know, Horse Watch have an entire list of stolen equines that have never turned up anywhere,’ said Cooper.

‘Yes, I do know that.’

‘Well, chances are, those animals have gone through someone like Rawson. The dealer will either sell them on to a new owner, or he’ll make a few hundred pounds on the carcass at the horse slaughterer’s. Patrick Rawson is at the centre of this somehow. He has connections with the abattoir, he’s a partner in R & G Enterprises. We know he has a history as a dodgy horse dealer. The number of people who might have wanted to kill him is beginning to look endless.’

‘Yes, just about every horse owner or animal lover in the country,’ said Fry. ‘But if Trading Standards couldn’t get enough solid evidence against him to put him in court after a five-year investigation, how would some animal rights group find out enough to target him?’