ADMISSSION BY EXPERT WITNESS ENDS RACE-FIXING TRIAL
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Jockey Kieren Fallon and five other men have been acquitted of race-fixing on the directions of the judge after the Prosecution”s Australian expert witness admitted that he knew nothing about British horse-racing.
Responding to Defence submissions, Mr Justice Forbes directed the Old Bailey jury that there was no case to answer at the end of two months of Crown evidence.
Fallon, fellow jockeys Fergal Lynch and Darren Williams, businessman Miles Rodgers and two other men had been accused of plotting to throw races.
The case against the men was that they were trying to break Jockey Club Rule 157 by conspiring to stop twenty-seven horses racing on their merits between December 2002 and August 2004 and thereby defraud punters.
But the "fatal flaw" in the six million pound case was that no one was able to prove that the jockeys had interfered with the horses.
The only expert witness called was Australian racing steward Ray Murrihy, brought in by police and lawyers to give an independent opinion on the races ridden by Fallon and two other jockeys.
Mr Murrihy initially said the New South Wales rules were based on the British system. But as he gave evidence, differences started to emerge between the wording of his witness statement and his evidence in the witness box. These included the circumstances under which a jockey could remove a hood on the horse's head, riding full-out to the line even when the horse does not have a chance of winning and the accepted use of the whip.
Defence lawyers said his querying of 13 of the 27 alleged fixed races did not prove the case against the jockeys.
Under further questioning, Mr Murrihy admitted that he had not studied the British rules, was only giving his opinion on the riding and could not say what the outcome of a stewards' inquiry would have been.
In his submission, James Sturman QC, defending jockey Darren Williams, told the judge: "The weight to be attached to Mr Murrihy's evidence is so slim as to be nil."
Earlier in the trial, Mr Murrihy had clashed with lawyers during his evidence. At one point, Mr Murrihy was asked why the Queen's horse, Daring Aim, had been whirling her tail when ridden by Fallon.
He raised laughter in the Court when he said that the horse should be asked her opinion.
Trial judge Mr Justice Forbes said the evidence given by Ray Murrihy contained "significant limitations and shortcomings".
He said that, in his witness statement and his evidence-in-chief, the Australian racing steward had been critical of the riding in thirteen of the allegedly fixed races, stating that there was a prima facie case against the jockeys.
But the judge added: "Remarkably, it was only in cross-examination that the very significant limitations and shortcomings in the evidence he was able to give became clear."
Mr Justice Forbes referred to Mr Murrihy’s evidence in Court when the expert witness had said that "it was not incumbent that I verse myself in UK or other jurisdiction rules", adding that "I have not said I was an expert in respect of UK races."
The judge said in his ruling: "This is an extraordinary admission given that he was purporting to give evidence about twenty-seven races run in the UK according to UK racing rules.”, adding that, "in my opinion, that was tantamount to Mr Murrihy disqualifying himself in giving evidence in relation to the suspect races.”
Mr Justice Forbes went on to say: "In my opinion it is now clear that Mr Murrihy's evidence was subject to a number of significant limitations and shortcomings which were not evident from his witness statements and his evidence in chief."
The judge added: "It is abundantly clear that his evidence fell far, far short of establishing a prima facie breach of UK racing rules.
"I have reached the conclusion that even if it was appropriate to admit Mr Murrihy's expert opinion, its probative value is so limited that very little value can be attached to it."
The judge said there was insufficient evidence on which a jury could conclude that the jockeys, and therefore all the defendants, were guilty.
After the collapse of the trial, Fallon's solicitor Ian Burton said: "The reality of this case was that far from proving Kieren Fallon's guilt, the evidence called by the prosecution clearly established that he had never been a party to the alleged conspiracy.
He added that "The collapse of this prosecution at a cost to the taxpayer of approaching ten million pounds, is a matter that ought to cause grave public concern and requires, in our view, consideration to there being an inquiry called by the Attorney General into the circumstances of the investigation, and importantly into the conduct of the trial by the prosecution team."
He said that, in February 2006, he had written to the CPS on behalf of Fallon setting out misgivings about using an Australian steward "unused to British racing".
Mr Burton said that "No substantive response was received to our letter." He said the CPS had failed to respond to further letters calling the prosecution against Fallon into question.
He concluded by saying that the prosecutors had not produced the opinion of British racing pundit Jim McGrath who was of the view that there was no evidence that Fallon stopped any of the horses.
ENDS