Paul Woolwich, the executive producer behind the BBC's Kenyon Confronts series, has blasted racing's regulators for giving trainer David Wintle "a rather pathetic slap on the wrist" at a Jockey Club disciplinary hearing yesterday.

Wintle returned home tight-lipped after being fined a total of £7,200 for offences including bringing racing into disrepute.

Wintle was called to Portman Square to answer allegations that he had brought racing into disrepute when appearing on the BBC's Kenyon Confronts programme last June. Similar cases involving Wintle's colleagues Jamie Osborne and Ferdy Murphy were heard late last year, both receiving fines of £4,000 having offered full apologies for the involvement in the programme.

But, as he left the hearing with barrister John Morris, Wintle said: "I have absolutely no comment to make."

However, Woolwich soon broke the silence to attack the level of punishment handed out to Wintle for comments made on hidden-camera footage shown in the programme and for apparently not running a horse on its merits.

"The Club had a golden opportunity to show the racing public that it was going to have no truck with this sort of cheating but in reality it has let all these trainers off with a rather pathetic slap on the wrist.

"One wonders whose interests they are protecting and how many more Dave Wintles are practising their craft on British racecourses. We fear that this rather lenient punishment will do little to reassure the public about the Club's intentions to clean up the sport," said Woolwich.