The farmer at the centre of Britain's foot and mouth disease outbreak says he is distraught about his ordeal.

Derrick Pride runs Woolford's Farm in Surrey, just 5 kilometres from the Pirbright laboratory where the strain of the disease is thought to have been stored to be used in a vaccine.

Mr Pride told a newspaper he could not explain how cattle in his herd caught the highly contagious virus, but he is certain his family had done nothing wrong.

He said he had been asked not to talk about the laboratory.

Mr Pride's daughter, who was not named, said her parents are quite elderly and are very upset.

© NewsRoom 2007