A LEADING Oxford scientist today accused the Government of a cover-up over BSE which has led to the deaths of two Oxfordshire people.

Prof Roy Anderson told the BSE inquiry that 250,000 cattle were needlessly infected with the disease.

Prof Anderson, of Oxford University's Centre for Infectious Diseases, said herds were given contaminated feed despite mounting concern over the safety of offal-based foodstuffs.

He said between 1989 and 1991 he had made several approaches to Ministry of Agriculture officials in a bid to understand the epidemic but was denied access to BSE data.

His research showed that the meat and bone meal feed ban already in place was not effective as new cases of mad cow disease continued into the 1990s.

In a prepared statement, Prof Anderson told the London inquiry: "If this had been known at the time, and if measures to prevent the continued use of contaminated feed had been put in place, the size of the epidemic would have been significantly smaller, by about one quarter of a million infected cattle."

BSE has been linked with the debilitating brain disorder Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, contracted by Jayne Bishop, 53, of Farm Close Road, Wheatley, who died on January 30. The mum-of-two had been ill for more than 14 months and was diagnosed with "new-variant" CJD, the human form of mad cow disease. Her husband Terry, 55, has been attending the inquiry but said he was prepared to listen to months of evidence before he would pass judgement on who was to blame for his wife's death.

He said: "I don't yet know if Jayne ate a beefburger made from infected beef but I do know she died from CJD and that is why I am attending the inquiry."

In 1994, CJD also claimed the life of Fonnie Van Es, 44, of Dashwood Road, Banbury.

In 1996, her daughter Ilja Andrews tried to sue the Ministry of Agriculture but dropped the case because she was not granted legal aid.

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