Joe gets his teeth into a very meaty case

Something doesn’t smell right to Pc Joe Mason... Could it be the load of condemned meat that has been hijacked? That’s definitely whiffy.

Sgt Nokes (Georgie Glen) returns to Ashfordly Police Station to help Joe and Pc Geoff Younger track down the lorry load of meat that’s not fit for human consumption. It quickly becomes clear that the hijacker either doesn’t know or doesn’t care that the meat isn’t prime cuts and is flogging it to anyone who wants it… And that’s quite a few people. Particularly interested is Peggy, who’s house-sitting a country mansion and has decided to turn the place into a B&B while the owner’s away (you’ve got to admire her nerve). Her first guest is the still-homeless Alf, who knows about the rotten meat theft and alerts the law. That’s Peggy banged up for handling stolen goods.

But the meat’s still making its way into people’s kitchens and the police make progress when elderly Edna falls ill after eating some. She leads them to a very sorry Steve, who never wanted to hurt Edna. And he has bad news for the police: his accomplice, Terry, is at the market, dishing out the rotten meat to buyers. They could have an epidemic of salmonella poisoning if they don’t get to him before the bargain-hunters...