Eight adults and one child have been struck down by a severe gastroenteritis bug which may be linked to cooked meats bought from an award-winning butcher's.

Investigations are continuing after four of the people hit by the illness are known to have bought cooked meat from Spauls Butchers at The Parade in Cottingley within the last two weeks.

Family doctors have been put on alert to look out for anyone else showing symptoms, which include diarrhoea, nausea, abdominal pain or cramps.

The butcher at the centre of the scare has today told of his shock and upset - he voluntarily shut the shop three days ago.

Darren Spauls, who opened the business with his brother Mark when he was just 17, said he was "completely puzzled" by the outbreak.

The 33-year-old, who also co-owns a butcher's in Burley-in-Wharfedale, said: "Customers' health has always been and will always be our priority.

"We are worried about the people who are ill. At the moment we can't make sense of what could have happened.

"As far as we are concerned, we always do everything by the book; health and hygiene is stapled into our lives - it's part of our job."

Mr Spauls said that, in the past, the shop had always had excellent environmental health reports and that the business's record had been "impeccable".

He said: "We are taking this very seriously and are working closely with the people who are trying to get to the bottom of what's happened. The sooner we find out the better. We are co-operating fully.

"I value all my customers and their support and hope they will continue to give it."

Mr Spauls said he had no idea when the shop, which has won numerous awards for its sausages and black puddings, would open again.

He also stressed the Burley-in-Wharfedale shop had not been affected in anyway and was open for business as usual.

Bradford and Airedale teaching Primary Care Trust, Bradford Council's environmental health department and the West Yorkshire unit of the Health Protection Agency (HPA) are joining forces to halt any potential spread of gastroenteritis.

Consultant in communicable disease control Dr Martin Schweiger, of the HPA, said the agency was advising anyone still storing cooked meat bought from Spauls not to eat it or feed it to pets and to throw it away.