A SLAUGHTERMAN who may have contracted foot-and-mouth disease was today awaiting the outcome of tests to see if he had the illness.

If the tests prove positive, the man, who was employed to dispose of carcases in north Cumbria, will become only the second man in the UK to have contracted the disease.

A spokesman for North Cumbria Health Authority stressed the slaughterman's condition was "giving no cause for concern".

6 Clifton-on-Teme huntsman Chris Burrows-Wood remained on his guard today .

Mr Burrows-Wood travelled back to Great Orton last week to continue the slaughter.

Earlier in the month, he had spent three weeks overseeing a 40-strong team dispatching thousands of sheep and cattle.

He could not be contacted today, but Nicky Driver, spokesman for the Worcestershire Countryside Alliance, said she had spoken to him this morning.

"He knew it had happened, but was not aware of who the guy is, where he came from or how he contracted it," she said.