The 1940s dog doping scandal which shook Southampton

Wells and an accomplice crept through a gap at the old Southampton Stadium and used a spy hole cut into the wall of the veterinary surgeon's hut to craftily observe what was happening at the back of the kennels. But they were on a loser when Wells was unexpectedly confronted by two local trainers, Noel and John Appleby, who had entries at the Autumn meeting in 1947.

The former was puzzled as to why the hole had been partly obstructed. He then discovered the reason - Wells was holding a piece of metal against it. He called for assistance from his brother who spotted the intruder clutching a paper bag and fumbling with loose boards at the back of the kennels.

As soon as he saw him, Wells shouted "Look out" and punched the trainer in the eye. As Appleby bravely retaliated, the accomplice suddenly emerged from undergrowth at the end of the passage, scrambled through a hedge and ran off.

Wells desperately tried to follow but was thwarted by Noel Appleby who leapt on his back and spreadeagled him on the ground. The doper, who was wearing gloves, then bizarrely began rubbing his hands together as they were smeared with phenol-barbitone.

Prosecutor Seymour Collins explained: "It was clear he was breaking up the phenol-barbitone. When police arrived, they searched him and in a mackintosh pocket, they discovered between £200 and £300 as well as one fishcake and one broken-up fishcake."

At the adjacent Hampshire Country Cricket Club in Northlands Road, head groundsman Ernie Knight challenged two men - one loitering in the scorebox and the other in the stand. The prosecution contended that from their vantage spots, they could see what signals Wells was communicating and which trap he was standing behind so other gang members knew which one to back.

In a police interview, Wells claimed he had only gone to the kennels to seek information from trainers and had accidentally gone the wrong way, but when the trainer grabbed him, he pleaded "Let me go and I'll give you £100."

Critical evidence in the case brought at the town's Quarter Sessions was delivered by Dr G E Turfitt, deputy director of the Metropolitan Police Laboratory, who described how several white particles were found in the broken fishcake, which consisted of a mixture of maize starch and phenol-barbitone. "The drug has a sedative effect which slows down reactions, causes drowsiness and reduces speed."

Jurors, however, heard none of the dogs at the meeting had been doped.

Wells, 36, from Hammersmith, London, denied conspiring with persons unknown to administer the drug to affect the greyhounds' running and to defraud punters.

In his closing speech to the jury, Derek Curtis - Bennett QC submitted it would have impossible for the gang to have succeeded in the plan.

"One does not poison dogs at random, and at the stadium, the dogs were kennelled in orders not known to anyone but a chosen few. There was no number on the boxes behind and it was no good putting a mass of poisoned fishcakes in a lot of kennels. One has to know which six dogs are in a particular row, which five they wanted to slow down, and which one they wanted to win."

He submitted there was no evidence of a conspiracy and the drugs could have come from Wells lending his coat to a Second World War victim who lived on a boat he owned.

However, it took jurors just 20 minutes to reject his argument before learning he had served two prison sentences.

Jailing Wells for 18 months, Assistant Recorder Geoffrey Howard told him: "A great number find their one recreation in the week is to go to dog meetings and have a gamble. It is people like who rob and cheat as much, to my mind, as if you picked their pockets."