LONDON - Six-times champion jockey Kieren Fallon and five members of an alleged race-fixing syndicate walked free from court on Friday after a judge dismissed the evidence of the main prosecution witness.
Fallon, 42, and his co-accused were acquitted of fixing 27 races after the judge said an Australian horse racing expert was not familiar enough with the rules of British racing to be considered authoritative in the case.
"I have reached the firm conclusion that even if it was appropriate to admit his expert opinion, it's probative value is so limited in all the circumstances of this case that very little if any weight can be attached to it," Justice Forbes said of Ray Murrihy, the chief racing steward of New South Wales.
"There is no sufficient evidence from which the jury could conclude that the jockeys agreed to stop their horses as alleged," the judge told the Old Bailey court as he instructed the jury to find Fallon and his co-defendants not guilty.
Afterwards, Fallon, whose right to ride in Britain was immediately reinstated, expressed his relief.
"I am of course relieved and delighted, but also outraged," he told reporters outside court. "There was never any evidence against me."
His defence team also called for inquiries into the high-profile, two-month trial, saying it had been a waste of as much as 10 million pounds of taxpayers' money.
Fallon and his co-accused, jockeys Fergal Lynch and Darren Williams, a professional gambler called Miles Rodgers, an Irish middleman called Phillip Sherkle, and Shaun Lynch, the brother of Fergal, had all denied wrongdoing.
Fallon, who was banned from racing in Britain while he stood trial, was accused of being at the centre of the alleged multi-million pound scam.
