NO evidence will be offered by the legal team defending Britain's largest privately-owned fish firm as it battles a £4 million prosecution for breaking EU quota rules.

A confiscation hearing at Truro Crown Court is determining how much Newlyn-based W Stevenson and Sons must pay after being convicted of falsifying landing documents in order to sell more expensive fish between April and September 2002.

The decision not to call any evidence means that Elizabeth Stevenson, a partner in the firm, will not be put on the stand.

Throughout the proceedings, Mrs Stevenson has sat at the back of court with her lawyers.

At Exeter Crown Court in April this year the company admitted 37 charges of submitting a false sales note to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

Yesterday in Truro, the prosecution finished presenting its calculations of how much money they claim was made through the scam.

Martin Edmunds QC, prosecuting, described the operation as "systematic" and "widespread" and said he believed it had been operating for sometime before 2002. The defence team dispute figures put forward by the prosecution. After Mr Edmunds finished, defence barrister Philip Hackett, QC, said: "We will not be calling any evidence. We will be working on some complex figures that have emerged during the course of the hearing based on the prosecution's raw data."

The court has already heard how in November 2002 The Marine and Fisheries Agency launched a probe into what was happening at Newlyn after officers became suspicious.

Officers looked at the log books and sales notes of 20 fishing boats – eight of which belonged to the Stevenson firm. The rest belonged to boat owners the company had entered into partnership with.

The court was told the documents Defra received did not accurately show the amount of each fish species landed at the harbour and when it was sold off at auction. The scam involved the landing and selling of high-value species such as cod, hake and angler fish, which are subject to quota limits in order to preserve stocks.

According to the prosecution information found in documentation from the sample boats showed that 24.2 per cent of the fish caught were black (illegal). The hearing continues.

article copyright WESTERN MORNING NEWS

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