A teenage boy has been found guilty of outraging public decency after he was spotted in a field lifting up horses' tails. The 17-year-old went on to penetrate one of the animals after he was witnessed stroking the mare.
He did not realise he was being watched by a woman nearby who owns one of the horses in the field. She was using binoculars to check on the animals when she noticed the teen acting suspiciously.
The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said that he had gone into the field in Blyth, Northumberland, to stroke the horses. He denied lifting up the animal's tail and putting his hand inside it, ChronicleLive reports.
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But he was found guilty of the charge earlier today (April 22). The incident occurred on May 29 last year, North Tyneside Youth Court heard.
The woman who witnessed the boy through her binoculars said she became concerned after noticing a male lifting up the tails of the horses and ran outside to stop him. He fled the scene through a fence when he spotted her and the woman's partner gave chase and called the police.
During her evidence, the woman said: "I said to (her partner) there's somebody in the mare's field. He was skipping between the horses. He was kind of running quickly between several of the horses and lifting their tails up. It just seemed like a peculiar thing to be doing.
"My brain couldn't process what I was seeing. I couldn't understand why somebody was lifting several of the horses' tails up. To be fair I was frightened for the horses, but I was frightened for the person. I thought there's going to be an incident."
The woman put her boots on and ran down to the field to stop the teenager. "I could see, by the time I was heading down the field, it was just one lad on his own," she said.
"I went through the gate and, as I went through the gate, the lad looked up, seen me and ran diagonally across the field through the fence. I think I shouted 'Yeah you better get out of the field, what the hell are you doing with the horses?'"
The woman's partner looked through the binoculars at the field and saw the teenager holding one of the tails of a horse and penetrating the animal with his hand.
He said: "I got the binoculars from (his partner) and he was stroking the horse down it's neck and down it's rear end and then he proceeded to pick the horse's tail up and basically inserted his hand into the horse.
"I thought to myself, for a minute, what have you just seen, were you sure. So I picked the binoculars back up and had another look. That's when I realised he had his whole hand inside the horse.
"I couldn't believe this young lad was doing what he was doing to the horse." He got into his vehicle to stop the teenager from riding away on his bike. Police were also called.
The man continued: "I went up to him, wound the window down and asked him to stop so I could speak to him. He said 'I love horses me, I wouldn't do anything to hurt one'. I said 'Stop we need to talk'. He didn't want to, he said 'No'."
He stopped the teenager by pulling his vehicle in front of him and grabbing him by his rucksack. The teen was taken back to the field.
The court heard how police arrived at the scene and put the teenager in the back of their van while they spoke to the couple. They then took him home and explained the accusation to his parents.
Sarah O'Neill, prosecuting, told the court: "It's accepted this young man had some substance on his arm, that had a smell. It appeared to be a sticky type liquid on his arm."
A Northumbria Police officer said the teenager had something on his arm, which could have been faeces, but he wasn't willing to touch or smell it for health and safety reasons. He admitted that it could have been mud, as he did not inspect it.
The teenager claimed he had gone into the field to stroke the horses and that he did not lift up the horse's tail or penetrate the horse. When Ms O'Neill put to him that the male witness said his hand went into the horse, he replied: "Right, that didn't happen."
He said he ran away from the female because he knew he shouldn't have been in the field. He said that the marks on his hands was mud from building jumps for his bike and there wasn't a mark or a smell.
Ms O'Neill asked him: "If somebody put their hand up a horses what do you think that would look like to other people?" The teenager replied: "Disgusting."
When asked why he could be heard saying 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry' during the man's 999 call. He said he was apologising for being in the field.
Ms O'neill said: "For some reason you've committed this bizarre act on the day. I don't know what was inside your head but you did this because they saw it. The gentleman saw it and the woman saw you lifting the tail up." He replied: "No."
The teenager's dad told the court how he had asked his son if he had committed the crime and he "categorically 100 per cent denies it". When asked if he believed him, he said: "I do aye. He's an honest lad. He's never been in trouble before. He's always been a good lad."
He said that he checked his son's hands and arms, after speaking to police, in his eyes they were clean. He said: "They didn't have horse's manure or excrement on."
His dad went on to say: "I have come to stand up for my son. I have known my son for 17 years."
Glenn Reardon, defending, told Magistrates: "I'm not suggesting at all they've come here to lie or tell mistruth, I'm simply saying they've been mistaken in what they've seen."
The owner of the horse told the court: "I was really upset and shocked. To do that to an animal. You worry about a lot of things, keeping animals but you don't ever expect to receive that phone call that it's happened."
Magistrates' spent nearly one hour deliberating before returning to the courtroom with a verdict. Chair of the bench, John Fleet told the teenager that they found the case against him to be proved.
He said: "Having made the determination, the next stage in the process would be to move against the right suitable sentence. We would not plan to do that without advice and the support of the youth justice service so you'll be needing to speaking with them.
"Your next appearance in court will be on May 15 at 10 o'clock in the morning. A pre-sentence report will be prepared. We release you on conditional bail to return to court on May 15. You have a legal duty to be here on time."
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