BRITAIN:Operation Krypton was an often poorly executed investigation which cost the British taxpayer at least £10m, writes Bernard Purcellat the Old Bailey
Champion jockey Kieren Fallon received an early Christmas present yesterday when an Old Bailey judge threw out the "race fixing" charges for which he has been on trial since September.
Mr Justice Forbes directed the jury to acquit Fallon, and his five co-defendants including two other jockeys, after the crown's main prosecution witness - Ray Murrihy, one of Australia's most senior stewards - backtracked on earlier statements to say he was not really an expert on UK racing.
Mr Murrihy was originally asked by police for his opinion on the performance of Kieren Fallon, Fergal Lynch and Darren Williams in 27 races between December 2002 and August 2004. He found fault with the jockeys in 13 of the races and said he would have called for stewards' inquiries.
He later admitted under cross- examination by defence counsel that not only was he not all that familiar with the rules or culture of British racing but his meaning of the phrase "stewards' inquiry" should have been taken to mean much more of a preliminary investigation than, as in the UK, that there was a "prima facie" case to answer.
Under UK horse racing regulations, rule 157 states it is an offence to deliberately interfere with a horse "running on its merits" by slowing it down, stopping it or otherwise interfering with it.
It was the final blow to an often poorly executed investigation called Operation Krypton (Krypton is an inert, colourless, odourless, expensive gas). The operation will have cost UK taxpayers at least £10 million (€14m).
Kieren Fallon's lawyers had always been confident they could persuade jurors of his innocence but none of the six defence teams expected the case to collapse so spectacularly at the halfway stage, just as the prosecution finished presenting its case.
Since the start of the investigation - carried out at the behest of the then Jockey Club - the UK's horse racing regulatory authority has changed its name three times to try to put a fresh face on British racing and satisfy critics it is cleaning up the industry. Even prosecutor Jonathan Caplan QC, a racehorse owner, had difficulty keeping up with the name changes to what is currently known as the British Horseracing Authority.
Mr Caplan acknowledged throughout the trial that much of the evidence of contact between the defendants was admittedly circumstantial until viewed through the prism of Mr Murrihy's expert opinion.
But defence counsel for Derry jockey Fergal Lynch, George Carter Stephenson QC, gently extracted from Mr Murrihy in cross-examination that he was only an expert on Australian racing and never purported to be thoroughly versed in the UK rules and culture.
That was enough for Kieren Fallon's defence counsel, racehorse owner John Kelsey-Fry QC, who coyly courted laughter in court when he said it was "not Mr Murrihy's fault he is Australian", to swiftly point out this was seriously at odds with Mr Murrihy's earlier claims.
Mr Justice Forbes clearly welcomed this rational not only to explain why the defence had not sought to have Mr Murrihy's evidence disallowed earlier, but also to protect the public purse.
Mr Justice Forbes presided over the trial of serial killer Harold Shipman and is one of the most highly regarded and experienced judges in England and Wales.
Mr Kelsey-Fry, whose laconic demeanour and angled wig often put many in mind of the late Ealing Studios character actor Dennis Price, was also at pains to point out that the prosecution never once explained Kieren Fallon's "unfortunate habit of winning the races he was supposed to have conspired to lose". In fact, he pointed out, his "hit" or success rate was 150 per cent better in the races he was allegedly supposed to have lost than in his overall career.
But there was worse for the prosecution team. Owner after owner, trainer after trainer, called by the crown to give evidence against Fallon and his two fellow jockeys, instead heaped praise on his riding, sheer horsemanship and drive to win.
Fergal Lynch was similarly praised if not quite so lavishly.
The crown had to contend with half-hearted explanations from City of London detectives about lost notes, patchy telephone intercepts, haphazard surveillance, and late or partially disclosed witness statements.
Questions were raised about allegedly too close ties between the racing regulators and the City of London force; discussions were alleged to have taken place about the Jockey Club possibly funding the supposedly independent police investigation and even about the officer leading the investigation joining its security department upon retirement.
Most damning of all, and described by the judge as, at the very least, "an embarrassment" for the crown, was its inability to explain the precise role of a Dublin businessman based in Spain who was said to have wanted to take extraordinary measures to make good his losses betting on Fallon to lose.
City of London detectives could find no evidence of funds moving to or from Spain despite following the alleged conspirators to a meeting in Spain with the putative "Mr Big". So unsuccessful were detectives in finding anything out about him that Mr Caplan had to conspicuously exempt the businessman's role to the jury any time his name came up.
This was in spite of the fact that the jurors were told how the Dubliner travelled to the UK from Spain, checked in to a hotel under a false name, and went with members of the alleged race-fixing cartel to confront Kieren Fallon at his then Cowlinge home, near Newmarket, in the dead of night under, what the crown maintained at the time, were clearly sinister circumstances.
Yesterday the judge told the jury that in the light of everything else all the extended text messages, phone contacts and meetings between any and all of the six defendants should be seen as just the normal, non-criminal, social interaction so routine to the world of horse racing, jockeys and tipsters.