Horsemeat: Farmers In 'Buy British' Campaign

By Clare Fallon, Sky News Reporter

Farmers are hitting back after the horsemeat scandal with a new campaign urging consumers to 'Buy British'.

The National Farmers Union (NFU) has taken out adverts in 10 national newspapers, saying it is championing British produce as a direct response to the contamination and mislabelling of some beef products.

According to NFU President, Peter Kendall, British farmers feel let down.

"Farmers are very proud of what they produce and are, quite rightly, furious about this current situation. They feel let down by what looks like a criminal element in an isolated part of the food chain," he said.

The advertising campaign comes after the Food Standards Authority (FSA) raided the premises of more British companies.

Two sites in Tottenham, North London and one in Hull in Yorkshire were searched by FSA officials, who removed computer equipment and took away meat samples to be analysed.

One of the businesses being investigated is Dinos & Sons Continental Foods.

The company released a statement saying it is co-operating with officials, adding: "At no time has Dinos & Sons produced or manufactured anything that is under investigation or is the subject of any possible contamination or mislabelling."

The raids came as three men who were arrested on Thursday remain in police custody on suspicion of offences under the Fraud Act.

Dafydd Raw-Rees, 64, the owner of Farmbox Meats near Aberystwyth, and a 42-year-old man were arrested in Wales.

A 63-year-old man was also arrested on suspicion of the same offence at Peter Boddy Slaughterhouse in Todmorden, West Yorkshire.

Both plants were inspected on Tuesday by the FSA.

After test results revealed around 1% of products checked contained a significant amount of horse meat, Environment Secretary Owen Patterson insisted he wants all other tests to be completed by the end of next week.

"It's up to the food businesses to carry out the tests, to organise their businesses and to provide quality products," Mr Patterson told Sky News.

The problem has gone beyond supermarket bought burgers and lasagnes - hotels, restaurants and pubs have also been affected after confirmation from Whitbread, which owns Premier Inn, Beefeater Grill and Brewers Fayre, that horse DNA has been found in its food.

Cottage pie served to children at 47 schools in Lancashire has also tested positive and has now been removed from menus.

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Territorial Army In Live Recruitment Drive

By Alistair Bunkall, Defence Correspondent

The first of a series of live television adverts will be broadcast today to help recruitment to the Territorial Army.

The advert will go out on ITV just after midday, broadcast from Afghanistan and real TA soldiers will take part, not actors.

There will be 17 live adverts over the next two weekends, each lasting around one minute, demonstrating how TA soldiers work alongside their regular Army colleagues.

It will be complimented by a series of events in London, Birmingham, Portsmouth, Bristol, Cardiff, Newcastle and Glasgow, showcasing the wide range of careers available including chefs, drivers, medics and engineers.

Major General Ranald Munro, the Deputy Commander of Land Forces and senior officer in the TA, said: "My vision is to have a Territorial Army that is well trained.

"Clearly not to the standards of the regular soldier in peacetime, but sufficiently high so that when we top the training up before operations they're ready to cross a line of departure with total assurance and confidence between the regular and the TA operating together."

Maj General Ranald Munro: 'My vision is to have a TA that is well trained'

On a bitterly cold Salisbury Plain this week, TA soldiers have been on final exercise alongside their regular colleagues before deploying to Afghanistan in April.

One of those is Lieutenant Rob Whittle, a TA soldier and security consultant in civilian life.

"Joining the Reservists is no different I think to joining the regular Army," he told Sky News.

"You still want to join to do jobs on operations, but it gives you the freedom to pursue a civilian career if that's what you want as well so effectively you are going to get the best of both worlds."

The recruitment drive is indicative of the Government's need to fulfil its pledge to double the number of TA soldiers from 15,000 to 30,000 by 2018.

Under the plans the Territorial Army will be known instead as the Reservists. This is intended to reflect their expanding role and increased importance. The Ministry of Defence is investing an extra £1.8bn over the next ten years to improve TA equipment and training.

"It's a huge challenge but one that I think we can achieve," Major Gen Munro predicts confidently. "If you look at other countries, America, Australia, Canada, it is do-able."

TA soldiers on exercise before they deploy to Afghanistan in April

But the larger reserve force will compensate for massive cuts in the regular Army. By 2020 the size of the service will have shrunk to 82,000 from a current level of around 105,000. It will be the smallest UK army since the 18th century.

Critics of the redundancies point out the threat of Islamic extremism in North Africa and argue that demands on the British Army are unlikely to diminish significantly even once the Afghan mission is over post 2014.

Business leaders also question the wisdom of a larger TA force because of the strains it can put on small business forced to release employees for military duties.

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Coronation Street Actor: Child Sex Charges

One of Coronation Street's longest-serving actors, Michael Le Vell, has been charged with a string of child sex offences.

Le Vell, who plays garage owner Kevin Webster in the ITV soap opera, is accused of 19 child sex offences, including child rape, and sexual activity with a child, Greater Manchester Police said.

Le Vell, 48, a father-of-two whose real name is Michael Turner, will appear in court charged with the offences on February 27.

The actor was initially arrested in connection with the offences in September 2011.

The investigation was dropped three months later when authorities said there would be no further action taken against him as there was not enough evidence against him.

However, following a review of the case by lawyers at the Crown Prosecution Service the decision has been taken that it is in the "public interest" to charge the actor.

Michael Le Vell was first questioned over the child sex allegations in 2011

Speaking after the investigation against him was dropped in 2011, Le Vell said he was "delighted" to have been "completely exonerated", thanked police for their "thorough" investigation and Coronation Street staff and the public for their support.

Le Vell vowed to put the allegations behind him and returned to the show after a short break and is now currently involved in some of the soap's main storylines.

Alison Levitt, QC, principal legal adviser to the Director of Public Prosecutions, reviewed a file of evidence in relation to allegations of sexual offences and looked again at a decision previously made not to prosecute.

Ms Levitt said: "I have very carefully reviewed the evidence in this case and I have concluded that there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest to charge Michael Robert Turner with a number of sexual offences.

"I have authorised Greater Manchester Police to charge Mr Turner with 19 offences, including rape of a child."

Le Vell, who split from his wife Janette Beverley last year,  is one of television's most famous faces after playing car mechanic Kevin Webster for the past 30 years in the TV show.

Originally from Manchester, he began his acting career in the Oldham Theatre Workshop after taking an interest in amateur dramatics while at school.

He first joined the soap in 1983 and quickly endeared himself to fans who have followed the trials and tribulations of Kevin, from Brian Tilsley's apprentice mechanic through to his stormy marriage to Sally, played by Sally Dynevor, and fathering two teenage girls as well as a love child from his affair with Molly Dobbs.

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Horsemeat: Test Results Expected On UK Meals

Test results for horse meat in British processed meals are due today - as detectives continue questioning three men over the scandal.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) will report on the UK products after asking retailers and suppliers to provide "meaningful results" from tests to detect the presence of horse meat in processed meals labelled as beef.

The FSA said it wanted the food industry to show the food it sells and serves is what it says it is on the label.

The test results, for significant levels of horse meat, will come from all beef products such as burgers, meatballs and lasagne.

Prime Minister David Cameron reportedly believes supermarkets have been too silent on the scandal.

A senior No10 source told the Daily Telegraph: "It is not acceptable for retailers to remain silent while their customers have been misled.

"The supermarkets need to justify their action and reassure the public."

The eagerly-awaited test results will emerge as police in Wales probe three men arrested on suspicion of offences under the Fraud Act.

Some butchers have used the horsemeat scandal to boost their trade

The trio were taken into custody from two plants inspected and temporarily shut down by the FSA on Tuesday.

Sources said Dafydd Raw-Rees, 64, owner of Farmbox Meats near Aberystwyth, was arrested along with a 42-year-old man.

A 63-year-old man was also arrested on suspicion of the same offence at Peter Boddy Slaughterhouse in Todmorden, West Yorkshire.

On Wednesday, owner Mr Boddy, 63, said he had done nothing wrong and insisted the FSA inspection was merely to look at his records, but was last night unavailable for comment.

His firm is also contracted to remove fatally injured horses from the Grand National.

It removes the carcasses of some horses which have been put down during the world famous meeting, Aintree Racecourse, and said it was "confident" no unfit meat had entered the food chain.

The arrests were made by Dyfed-Powys Police in a joint operation with the FSA.

The two plants became the first UK suppliers suspected of passing off horse meat for beef.

Production at both plants was suspended pending the outcome of investigations into claims they supplied and used horse carcasses in meat products purporting to be beef for burgers and kebabs.

The FSA said on Tuesday it had "detained" all meat found at the premises and seized paperwork and customer lists from the two companies.

Last night's arrests were made as Asda withdrew its 500g beef bolognese sauce from shelves after tests revealed the presence of horse DNA, the supermarket chain said.

The company apologised to customers and said it was taking a "belt-and-braces approach" by removing a further three beef products made by the same supplier, the Greencore plant in Bristol, as a precaution.

Yesterday it emerged a significant amount of horse meat containing the painkiller phenylbutazone - or "bute" - could have been entering the food chain for some time.

Authorities in Britain and France are trying to trace the carcasses of six horses contaminated with bute - which were slaughtered in a UK abattoir and may have entered the human food chain across the Channel.

The drug, which is potentially harmful to human health, was detected in eight horses out of 206 tested by the FSA in the first week of this month.

Two were intercepted and destroyed before leaving the slaughterhouse but the other six were sent to France, where horse meat is commonly eaten.

Announcing the results of the bute tests in the House of Commons yesterday, agriculture minister David Heath said the Government had instigated the "biggest investigation ever" into criminal activity in Europe over horse meat contamination of beef products.

FSA chief executive Catherine Brown said the agency increased testing of horse carcasses over a three-month period last year after intelligence from abattoirs suggested bute was getting into the food chain.

Of 63 tested - amounting to 5% of all carcasses - four (6%) tested positive for the painkiller, prompting the FSA to start testing 100% of horse meat in January, which revealed the eight contaminated carcasses.

Ms Brown said: "That would say there has been a significant amount of carcasses with bute going into the food chain for some time."

However tests on Findus processed beef products withdrawn from sale in the UK after the discovery of traces of horse meat found no evidence of the substance.

Chief Medical Officer Dame Sally Davies downplayed the risk saying: "If you ate 100% horse burgers of 250g, you would have to eat, in one day, more than 500 or 600 to get to a human dose."

The highest level of bute found in tests was 1.9 milligrammes per kilo of meat.

Ms Brown said both vets and horse owners have to sign horse passports if an animal is treated with bute, to ensure it is not subsequently sold on for human consumption.

"If both these people have done the right thing, horses with bute in don't make their way into the food chain," she said.

"Someone has always broken the rules."

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Stafford Hospital: Dementia Patient Abused

A health worker at Stafford Hospital dragged an elderly dementia patient around by his pyjamas before calling him an animal, a medical tribunal has heard.

Bonka Kostova, a Bulgarian-qualified midwife who was working as a healthcare assistant, was found to have physically and verbally abused the 73-year-old on a night shift in July 2010.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) said her fitness to practise was "currently impaired by reason of her misconduct". It is expected to deliver its final verdict on Thursday.

Ms Kostova was found to have pulled the man, known only as patient A, out of a toilet cubicle using the collar of his pyjama top while his trousers were around his ankles.

She then shouted "I hate you" and "you are no longer a human being but an animal" or words to that effect, the NMC found.

Staff nurses intervened, taking Ms Kostova to one side and telling her that her behaviour was "unacceptable".

One of them said Bonnie, as she was known to her colleagues, was "losing it".

Ms Kostova had been left in charge of the patient - who was said to be aggressive in his speech or manner around 80% of the time - when his carer went for a break.

The tribunal was told she had received general training in looking after vulnerable adults but had not been given specific training for dementia patients.

Ms Kostova has not worked at the hospital since she was suspended from her post.

Robert Courteney-Harris, medical director of Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, said: "This incident was dealt with very swiftly when it happened in 2010."

A report into Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, published last week, highlighted the "appalling and unnecessary" suffering of hundreds of patients between 2005 and 2009.

Some were left for hours sitting in their own faeces, food and drink was left out of reach and hygiene was so poor that relatives had to clean toilets themselves.

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'Jon Venables Twitter Photo' Investigation

A picture purporting to show the new identity of one of the killers of toddler James Bulger has been posted on Twitter, prompting an investigation.

The image is supposed to show Jon Venables, who was jailed along with his friend Robert Thompson for killing the youngster in a crime that appalled the nation 20 years ago this week.

In the picture, the man identified as Venables is seen smiling, apparently at a birthday party.

Venables was given a new identity after being released from prison for James' murder in 2001. There is a worldwide ban on publishing anything that would identify him as Jon Venables.

His parole was revoked and he was jailed again in 2010 for downloading and distributing dozens of indecent images of children. He is now making a new bid for release.

James Bulger was horrifically murdered 20 years ago

Denise Fergus, the mother of the murdered two-year-old, told Sky News earlier this week that Venables was a "ticking time bomb" and should not be released.

The image posted on Twitter was re-tweeted 100 times.

A spokesman for the Attorney General's Office said: "The AGO has been alerted to a possible contempt of court.

"We are liaising with the Ministry of Justice and others to establish the facts.

"We can neither confirm nor deny whether the pictures in question are of Jon Venables.

"It should be noted, there is a worldwide injunction in place which prevents the publication of any images or information purporting to identify anyone as Jon Venables."

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Woman And Toddler Hit-And-Run CCTV Released

Police have released video of the moment a woman and toddler were sent flying in a hit-and-run in an effort to track the driver and the car.

The CCTV footage shows the 42-year-old driving instructor and her three-year-old nephew crossing the road on December 7 in Coventry.

As they reach the middle of King William Street a black Audi estate overtakes another car, which had stopped to turn into a junction, and strikes them.

The driver of the Audi is seen to slow for a moment, but then accelerates along the road as passers-by rush to help the stricken pair, left lying in the middle of the street.

Fortunately, the woman and toddler were unharmed aside from a few minor injuries.

West Midlands Police said a witness supplied a partial number plate for the Audi - EN57 - but they have been unable to trace the vehicle and believe it could be hidden in a garage.

Officers believe the car will have sustained damage on the front.

"We have taken the unusual step of releasing the images - which carries a warning for viewers - in the hope that someone will recognise the car and come forward with information so that we can trace the driver," said PC Abbi Jones.

"This could have been so much worse. At the time of the collision, the driver would not have known that the woman and child were uninjured."

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Madeleine McCann Lookalike DNA Test Negative

DNA tests have confirmed a New Zealand girl is not the missing youngster Madeleine McCann, police have announced.

The girl has twice been mistaken for Madeleine by members of the public and British police asked for testing to be carried out to confirm she was not the missing child.

The first sighting was last March and the second on New Year's Eve.

New Zealand police have said in a statement that they have sent the DNA samples to Scotland Yard officers who are still investigating Madeleine's disappearance.

Detective Inspector Steve McGregor said: "We have received confirmation from Scotland Yard that a DNA sample provided voluntarily from a girl mistaken as missing British girl Madeleine McCann on New Year's Eve in Queenstown last year does not provide a match for that of the missing girl.

"At the time of the sighting police made thorough inquiries into the sighting and were completely satisfied that the girl was not Madeleine McCann."

New Zealand police say the unnamed girl's family has requested privacy.

A Scotland Yard spokesman confirmed that following the DNA submission police were "satisfied" that the girl identified in New Zealand was not Madeleine.

Madeleine was nearly four when she disappeared from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal's Algarve on May 3, 2007 as her parents dined at a tapas restaurant with friends nearby.

Kate and Gerry McCann, of Rothley, Leicestershire, have campaigned tirelessly for information on their daughter's whereabouts, battling for a review by the Metropolitan Police, which has now been under way for more than 18 months.

Her disappearance has sparked a number of  false sightings around the world.

Portuguese police closed the case in 2008 after failing to find out what happened to her.

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Heathrow 'Ticket Price Rise' Under £3bn Plans

Officials at Heathrow Airport have announced £3bn of investment in a move that is likely to leave passengers paying higher prices.

The proposals include the opening of the new Terminal 2 next year, improved check-in and baggage facilities, and more customer service training for staff.

The airport wants regulators to approve a five-year plan which will see the fees it charges airlines to use the airport rise over the period 2014 to 2019.

If approved, the charges would increase from the equivalent of £19.33 per passenger for 2012/13 to as much as £27.30 in 2018/19.

Heathrow accounts for 78% of all long-haul flights from the UK.

The charges, which need to be approved by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), will help pay for the investment.

Heathrow chief executive Colin Matthews said: "Heathrow is the UK's only hub airport and a strategically important national infrastructure asset. Heathrow faces stiff competition from other European hubs and we must continue to improve the service we offer passengers and airlines.

"We have invested billions of pounds in new facilities such as Terminal 5 in recent years and passengers say they have noticed the difference.

"Our plan for a further £3bn of private-sector investment will further improve the airport for passengers.The plan represents good value for money for airlines and passengers and comes at no cost to taxpayers."

British Airways is concerned about the price rises

He said the airport envisaged passenger numbers increasing from just under 70 million now to around 72.6 million by 2018/19.

Asked about the possibility of a third runway, Mr Matthews said that with all that would be need to be done in terms of political decisions and planning there was unlikely to be "any shovel going into the ground realistically for the period we are talking about (2014 to 2019)".

He said that the proportion of Heathrow passengers rating their journey as very good or excellent had increased from 48% in 2007 to 72% today.

While airlines have supported plans for better customer service they have concerns about the rise in charges.

British Airways said: "Heathrow Airport's charges have already tripled over the past 11 years. The charges must be reduced significantly over the coming years, especially when the airport is cutting investment by around 25% from next year onwards.

"We hope the regulator (the CAA) will give a fair ruling in the months ahead, which doesn't penalise customers and airlines."

Virgin Atlantic chief operating officer Steve Griffiths said: "We are totally committed to improving the passenger experience at Heathrow.

"However, we believe this can be done without a repeat of the incredibly steep price rises we have seen in airport charges in the last few years.

"Prices at Heathrow are triple the level they were 10 years ago. Clearly this is a concern for all passengers travelling through Heathrow, and all airlines operating there."

Heathrow's flight punctuality - the number of planes taking off or landing within 15 minutes of schedule - was only around 67% in 2007.

It has now gone up to 80% and the airport wants this figure to increase to 90% by the end of the decade.

Its chiefs said that while 4% of bags went missing in 2007, this figure is now down to 1.5%.

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Barclays Cuts 3,700 Jobs Despite Profit Hike

Barclays announces 3,700 job cuts amid plans to cut £1.7bn in annual costs and improve standards.

Of these job losses, 1,800 will be in its corporate and investment bank and 1,900 will be in European retail and business banking.

Sky News revealed on Monday that thousands of jobs would go outside its investment bank as part of a streamlining programme overseen by the company's new chief executive Antony Jenkins.

It comes as the bank - Britain's second largest - said adjusted pre-tax profit was £7.048bn over the 12 months to the end of December - up 26% on 2011.

Its staff bonus pool for 2012 was down 16%, with staff at its investment bank getting an average of £54,100 and other employees receiving £13,300.

Barclays also confirmed that its controversial tax avoidance unit would close, as revealed by Sky's City Editor last week.

Mr Jenkins, who is due to announce the outcome of a strategic review this morning, said the bank is in the process of changing.

"We intend to change what Barclays does and how we do it and have set out clear commitments against which our progress can be measured," he said in a statement.

"Our goal is to make Barclays the 'Go-To' bank for all our stakeholders.

"The plan that we set out today is critical to delivering that goal."

In total, Barclays' employs around 140,000 people across the world.

More follows...

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Bulger Mother: 'Venables Still A Danger'

By Becky Johnson, North of England Correspondent

The mother of murdered toddler James Bulger has told Sky News she believes tougher sentences are needed to stop people who commit serious crimes from "getting away with it".

Speaking on the eve of the 20th anniversary of her son's murder, Denise Fergus says despite fighting for two decades she feels she has still not achieved justice.

James Bulger was just two years old when he was abducted from the Strand shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside.

CCTV cameras captured 10-year-old schoolboys Jon Venables and Robert Thompson leading the toddler by the hand. They took him to a railway embankment in Walton, Liverpool, where they tortured him, inflicting 42 injuries before leaving him dead on the tracks where a train severed his body.

Venables and Thompson were convicted of murder and given life sentences in November 1993. Less than eight years later, in June 2001, the pair were released and given new identities.

Denise Fergus told Sky News she feels let down by the justice system and strongly believes a change in the law is needed so killers receive harsher punishments.

Mother Denise Fergus believes Jon Venables remains a danger to society

"They should make them realise what they've done is wrong. If they give them a hard enough time maybe they'll think again before they go on to commit another crime.

"What I'm saying is stop giving them stupid sentences like five or 10 years or if they get a 10-year sentence stop dropping it to five years because of good behaviour.

"They've done bad in the first place to be there. Start giving them proper sentences, sentences that fit the crime and stop being so lenient on them."

Venables was jailed again in 2010 for downloading and distributing dozens of indecent images of children. He is now making a new bid for release.

For the first time Mrs Fergus is expected to deliver a victim statement in person to his parole board. She has told Sky News she feels strongly he should remain behind bars.

Venables was 10 when he and Robert Thompson murdered James Bulger

She has been concerned that a possible sexual motive for her son's murder has never been properly investigated. She believes Venables still poses a risk to the public.

She said: "I just urge them not to release him because I still believe he is a danger. He's a ticking timebomb and he always has been.

"To get away with so much you know someone out there hasn't been doing their job. He was meant to have been monitored on his release. To build up all those images on his laptop is unbelievable and just proves that he hasn't been getting monitored at all."

"I'm not saying lock him up forever. Until he's got a stable mind then I think he should be locked up. But I don't know if he'll ever get that stable mind."

Mrs Fergus also believes he shouldn't be given a second new identity.

"If he gets another ID then he's putting other people in danger because on his release people are going to be aware who moves into their area. If someone new moves in on his release then everyone's going to be pointing fingers and it might not be him, it might be an innocent man."

Mrs Fergus, her husband Stuart and three sons will visit James's grave on the anniversary of his death.

She says she'll never stop fighting for justice: "That's something I'll never give up. The day I give that up I'll be letting a lot of people down. All the support that I've had over the past 20 years would be undone.

"I'd feel I was letting my family down, and I'd feel I'd be letting James down, I'd be letting myself down. You know if it takes another 20 years I'm going to keep on fighting."

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Two Charged Over Death Of Policewoman

Two men have been charged over the death of a policewoman whose patrol car was hit by a stolen 4x4 in Northern Ireland.

Constable Philippa Reynolds, 27, from the Greater Belfast area, died when the unmarked car she was travelling in turned into the path of the vehicle in Londonderry in the early hours of Saturday morning.

One the men, aged 25, has been charged with 10 offences including causing death by dangerous driving, aggravated vehicle taking causing death or grievous bodily injury, burglary and driving while unfit.

The other man, aged 23, has been charged with aggravated vehicle taking causing death or grievous bodily injury, burglary, criminal damage and assisting an offender.

They are both due to appear in court in Londonderry this morning.

PC Reynolds, a former teacher, had been in the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) for two years.

Her commander in Londonderry, Chief Superintendent Stephen Cargin, paid tribute to her in the wake of the crash.

"She was a young 27-year-old officer, just two years' service, in the prime of her life, doing what she loved to do - and that was serving the community to the best of her ability," he said.

"Her colleagues are devastated, as I am as her commander, as we all are as a police service.

"She was enthusiastic, bubbly and had a beautiful personality.

"She was just loved by her colleagues and she turned that love to the community she served."

CS Cargin said he believed PC Reynolds, who was sitting in the rear driver's side seat, would have died instantly due to the force of the impact with the silver Toyota Land Cruiser.

Two other officers in the patrol car suffered non-serious injuries.

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Horsemeat Scandal An 'International Conspiracy'

Environment Secretary Owen Paterson has told Sky News an "international conspiracy" could be at the centre of the horsemeat scandal, as he warned that further cases of contaminated meat may be revealed within days.

Mr Paterson said the next set of results on all retailers' and manufacturers' processed beef products could show more traces of horsemeat.

"There may well be more bad results coming through, that's the point of doing this random analysis," Mr Paterson said.

The results, ordered by the Food Standards Agency, are due on Friday.

Mr Paterson held an emergency meeting with food producers, leading supermarkets and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in central London on Saturday.

He said it had been agreed that there would be "a very rapid analysis of current products", with results by the end of next week, to understand "the extent of this problem which is either caused by gross incompetence or what I suspect is actually an international criminal conspiracy".

"If there's a criminal act we will work with the authorities wherever they are to ensure the appropriate measures are taken," he said.

The talks came as frozen food company Findus UK said it is considering legal action against its suppliers after tests found up to 100% horsemeat in some of its beef lasagnes.

One eBay auction had a Findus lasagne selling for £12

"Findus is taking legal advice about the grounds for pursuing a case against its suppliers, regarding what they believe is their suppliers' failure to meet contractual obligations about product integrity," the statement said.

"The early results from Findus UK's internal investigation strongly suggests that the horsemeat contamination in Beef Lasagne was not accidental."

Enterprising eBay users have already taken to auctioning the firm's beef lasgnes, with one receiving bids of £12 - with proceeds apparently going towards Help The Heroes charity.

Mr Paterson also warned that the scandal "could go deeper than we thought".

Substituting horse for beef was "fraud on the British public" and "people should buy what is on the label," he said.

The Environment Secretary said that retailers held the "ultimate responsibility" for making sure that horsemeat was not in their products and that they would have to start doing their own testing. 

Scotland Yard met with representatives from the FSA on Friday night over the scandal.

During the talks on Saturday morning the supermarkets had agreed to work with the FSA to report their test results on a quarterly basis.

Bosses from leading supermarkets including Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons attended the meeting at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

Findus was not invited to the Government summit but the Food and Drink Federation, of which they are a member, attended.

Earlier, Findus reiterated its apology for the scandal, but it came under fire from opposition leader Ed Miliband amid reports the company knew some days before it withdrew its lasagnes from sale that they were likely to contain horsemeat.

Mr Miliband told Sky News: "The head of the company needs to come to Britain and explain himself and who knew what when.

"Many customers were innocently buying Findus products when it appears that the company may have known it was likely to be contaminated by horsemeat."

Findus has strongly denied other reports saying it knew about the problems as early as last August, saying that they first suspected an issue on January 22, when they ordered the initial tests.

The presence of equine DNA was confirmed on January 29 and a product recall was ordered on February 2 after further tests had been conducted.

Aldi meanwhile has confirmed that two of its ready meal ranges produced by Comigel, the French supplier also used by Findus, were found to contain between 30% and 100% horsemeat.

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Children Of Alcoholics Face Ongoing Struggle

By Clare Fallon, Sky News Reporter

As Children of Alcoholics Week begins, campaigners are trying to raise awareness about the difficulties faced by youngsters who grow up in households with alcohol abuse issues.

The National Association for Children of Alcoholics receives more than 4,500 calls a year - many from under 18s who are struggling to cope.

Their youngest ever caller was a five-year-old girl whose alcohol-dependent mother had committed suicide in the bathroom.

Hilary Henriques, one of the founders of the charity, warns the recession has only made the situation worse with addicts drinking to cope with financial pressure and in turn struggling to fund their alcohol problem. 

She said: "Alcoholics who drink don't choose to drink. Drink is how they get through the day."

Martin Williams is one of the alcoholic parents the charity has helped.

He describes how his relationship with alcohol became more important that his relationship with his two children.

"They stopped becoming the priority. The drink became the priority. And you try and juggle the two," he said.

Now though, he has been off the drink for more than three years and says his children are getting their dad back - an improved, sober version. 

Martin Williams says alcohol was once more important to him than his kids

The most recent figures show around one-fifth of children are living with someone drinking dangerous amounts of alcohol.

According to research, the impact of having an alcoholic parent can be lifelong, with significantly increased chances of developing mental health problems and eating disorders.

Children of alcoholics are also more likely to get into trouble with police and develop a drink problem themselves. 

Rosey, 20, has now moved out of home and is studying at university. 

While her flatmates enjoy a typical student lifestyle, she does not touch alcohol and says does not think she ever will.

Rosey's father has been an alcoholic as long as she can remember. 

She describes how she never invited school friends back home because she did not what them to meet her "slurring and rocking" dad. 

She says she has given up thinking it's her job to try to help him.

The charity Children of Addicted People and Parents said such situations are common.

Its founding director Emma Spiegler describes the situation faced by many youngsters as "a hell hole with no escape". 

But she insists with help and support children can come through it.

"Together we can help to break the silence, secrecy and stigma young people keep bottled up inside," she said.

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