ROTHER Council has suspended its case against Rye publican Alan Coomber for allegedly serving beef on the bone to his customers.

Coomber, of the Bell Inn at Iden, is the first Englishman to be prosecuted since the Government ban. The outcome of an appeal in a case against a Scottish butcher is now awaited. Charges against Selkirk hotelier Jim Sutherland were dismissed last month by a court which claimed the regulations were "manifestly absurd". That case has now been taken to the appeal court. ARother District Council spokesman said that as the regulations applied equally in England and Scotland, it made sense for any action to be adjourned until after the Scottish legal proceedings had been sorted out. Milton Keynes Council, meanwhile, said it was pressing ahead with a prosecution against two butchers who are due to appear in court on May 8.

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