After his acquittal yesterday lawyers for champion jockey Kieren Fallon said they were asking the UK's Independent Police Complaints Commission to examine the City of London police and Crown Prosecution Service's conduct of their investigation of him, writes Bernard Purcellin London.
Fallon and five co-defendants were acquitted on charges of conspiring to lose 27 races between December 2002 and August 2004. The judge told the jury the expert evidence relied upon by the prosecution from an Australian steward, in the light of admissions during cross-examination, fell "far, far short" of the standard required in law.
The Clareman's acquittal after the 3½ year investigation and trial was welcomed by some of the most important names in Irish and international racing.
Fallon's lawyers alleged Britain's horseracing regulators canvassed several police forces to investigate him and others and even offered to part-finance the police operation to the tune of £410,000 before deciding against going ahead with such a payment in August 2006.
The jockey's London solicitors, BCL Burton Copeland, stopped short of saying they would sue for compensation for Fallon's loss of earnings caused by being banned from UK races during the investigation. Senior partner Ian Burton went on to say that the attorney general should also examine why the trial - which collapsed after two months - went ahead in the first place.
"The collapse of this prosecution at a cost to the taxpayer of approaching £10 million (€13.9 million), 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."
Within moments of the case against Fallon and five co-defendants being thrown out, Coolmore Stud owners John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith issued a statement expressing sadness that the jockey had been banned from racing in Britain at what should have been the peak of his career.
The rebuke of Britain's horseracing regulators by three of the most highly regarded names in the industry came as the British Horseracing Authority said Fallon and his two fellow jockeys, Fergal Lynch and Darren Williams, were no longer banned and it would re-examine its own evidence.
"We find it extremely sad that he was denied the right to display his skills and earn a living on the racecourses of Britain while this case was pending," the Coolmore owners said.