Police criticised over runaway horse

A woman who was badly injured by a horse says the police failed to protect others from danger.

Linda Williams was walking with her husband on Honeymoor Common, near Clehonger in Hereford, when they were approached by a stallion that had broken free from its tether.

The animal allowed Mrs Williams to stroke it but then reared up and stamped on her, breaking her sternum and several ribs.

The police and a vet came to the common, but left after signs were put up warning of the potential danger.

Mrs Williams told BBC Hereford and Worcester that she thought that she might die until her husband intervened.

It's not police business to go chasing about after a horse West Mercia Police spokeswoman

"I could see my husband coming and the horse had got his back leg poised - it would have killed me. It was going to kick my head.

"My husband got between us was smacking the horse around the head to get it away from me."

Mrs Williams says that she wants to know why the animal was not tranquilised and captured immediately.

The police are still trying to trace the owner of the stallion, which is thought to be still on the loose.

Someone's animal

A West Mercia Police spokeswoman said officers called a vet who confirmed that the animal was a stallion, and warned they can be very unpredictable.

She said that the officers tried to trace the owner but had no success and, on the advice of the RSPCA, put up signs to warn the public about the horse.

She said: "We're talking about someone's animal here.

"Our priority was to locate the owner and get them to do something about it.

"It's not police business to go chasing about after a horse."