A food broker cleared of defrauding businesses by selling poultry unfit for human consumption says the case has ruined his life.

Timothy Powell, 38, of Neville Avenue, Hove, was found not guilty by a jury at Hull Crown Court yesterday.

Three other men were convicted of selling hundreds of tonnes of condemned poultry.

Two more pleaded guilty to the fraud before the trial and the jury failed to reach a verdict on three further defendants.

The fraud operated between 1993 and 1996 and netted millions of pounds.

Disguised pet food was sold to butchers, market traders, restaurants, takeaways and supermarkets across Britain.

Mr Powell said after the case: "I am totally vindicated. The prosecution had flimsy evidence against me. I have had five years of having my life totally disintegrated by this. I am going to take legal action."

Operation Fox discovered the fraud after monitoring the movements of workers and vans at four units on the Barbot Hall Industrial Estate in Parkgate, Rotherham, South Yorkshire.

In June 1996, officers raided the estate. Containers of smelling, badly-bruised poultry, covered in faeces, flies and feathers, were found at the units.

The meat would eventually end up on dinner plates.

The three found guilty were Andrew Boid, 33, and Darren Bibby, 29, both of Nottinghamshire, and Peter Tantram, 47, of Lincolnshire.

Before the trial Arnold Smith, 63, of Sheffield, and John McGinty, 48, of South Yorkshire, pleaded guilty to the fraud.