Former jockey Gary Carter has been left "stunned" by the Jockey Club's decision to declare him a disqualified person for five years and fine him £2,000 after he was found to have committed breaches of the Rules of Racing.

The punishments were imposed after a disciplinary committee hearing on September 28th.

Carter, who has left Britain to live in Spain, announced his retirement from the saddle last month and claimed he could not afford to defend himself. He was found guilty of providing information for reward, aiding and abetting a breach of the rules, associating with an excluded person and endeavouring to mislead Jockey Club officials.

Carter believes the punishment was "very harsh".

In a statement released through the Jockeys' Association of Great Britain, he said: "I am very disappointed to hear the outcome of this case and believe this penalty is very harsh, although I am not surprised given the financial and logistical problems that meant I was unable to put forward my case.

"Since the original charges were published in July 2004, I have in effect been serving a ban and then again, when those charges were dropped and modified in April this year, the renewed press coverage helped to finally kill off the last few years of my career.

"I have a right of appeal but those same barriers exist. In the first set of charges, I was accused by the Jockey Club of stopping eight horses.

"The original charge was withdrawn this year and the Jockey Club even went so far as to confirm to the disciplinary panel it was not part of the case that I prevented any horse from winning. This was the opinion of their own stewards and then their own race-readers.

"I am obviously stunned this appears to have been ignored."

John Blake, chief executive of the JAGB, added: "Given the Jockey Club charges, as I understood them, this decision is extremely severe. Gary has given a lot to racing over a 24-year career and it is an enormous shame for him that matters have concluded this way.

"The Jockeys' Association remains fully committed to maintaining the integrity and security of our sport and upholding public confidence.

"In the specific matter of this case, it is clear the better co-operation we are seeking with the Jockey Club, particularly in terms of sharing information relating to warned off persons and other preventative measures, will help us achieve our common goals."

At last week's inquiry the disciplinary panel met to consider whether Carter, Christopher Coleman - an excluded person, Dean Coleman, Neil Yorke, Stephen Hobbs, Linda Hobbs, and James Nash had committed breaches of the Rules of Racing.

Having considered the evidence and arguments put before them, the panel found: (1) that Gary Carter was in breach of Rules 243, 220(iv) and 220(viii). The panel declared him to be a disqualified person for five years, effective from October 12th, and imposed a fine of £2,000 for the breaches of Rule 220(viii).

(2) that Christopher Coleman was in breach of the rules as alleged and that he had also unreasonably refused to co-operate with the investigation. The panel ordered that he should continue to be excluded indefinitely.

(3) that Dean Coleman, Neil Yorke, Stephen Hobbs and James Nash were in breach of the rules as alleged and that they had also unreasonably refused to co-operate with the investigation.

The panel ordered that they should be excluded from all premises owned or licensed by the stewards of the Jockey Club with immediate effect for an indefinite period.

(4) that Linda Hobbs was not in breach of the rules.

Neither Carter nor Coleman - nor the five other individuals involved - were in attendance.