Horse dies after cart hits car - Essex

From the Echo

TWO men ran off and left a horse to die in the road after their cart ploughed into a parked car.

Witnesses looked on in distress, and shock, as a vet battled to save the mortally-wounded mare following the horrific crash.

The two Travellers were riding their horse and trap through the streets of Wickford when the horror unfolded.

They lost control of the cart as they were riding through Moreland Road, and the horse ploughed head-first into a parked black Ford Focus.

The horse – a bay mare – suffered devastating injuries. But shockingly eye witnesses told how the pair riding the trap just unhooked it from the injured horse and fled the scene.

One woman, who did not want to be named, said: “It was clear the horse was horrifically injured.

“I arrived after the accident happened, but I know some people were saying the two blokes just separated the cart from the horse and did a runner.”

Police, the RSPCA and a vet were called to the scene following the crash which happened at 1.25pm on Sunday.

The vet battled to save the horse, but it died.

Police later arrested two men in connection with the incident, but are still appealing for witnesses.

An Essex Police spokesman said: “Officers were called following reports a horse had collided with a parked car.

“The horse, a brown bay mare, was found to have serious injuries and died at the scene about an hour later, despite attempts by a vet to save her.

“Two men left the scene before police arrived and a black Ford Focus was badly damaged.”

PC Lisa Thompson, one of the officers called to the accident, added: “The bay mare had been well looked after, but she suffered terrible injuries when she ran into the parked car.

“The vet tried for an hour to save her, but in vain.”

The incident is the latest crash in the area involving a horse.

Last month the Echo told how a 30-year-old man from Wickford was charged with allowing animals to stray on the highway after loose horses were rounded up by police on the A132 Nevendon Road in Wickford.

And, also last month, a horse which escaped from the Traveller site in Hovefields Avenue, Wickford, was killed when it ran into the path of a car on the Southendbound carriageway of the A127 on Saturday, September 14.

A 52-year-old woman had to be cut free from her vehicle.

Following the latest incident police arrested two men – a 28- year-old from Billericay and a 26- year-old from Wickford – on suspicion of failing to stop at the scene of a collision and causing criminal damage.

The pair have been bailed until December 10.

Witnesses to the crash can call PC Thompson at the Laindon road policing unit on 101.