Shocking story...hopefully justice is on its way!

kc100

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Just had to share this story as my OH really couldnt care less about horses!

My mum rang me yesterday telling me about her friend's little girl (aged 14) who has recently got a new pony and went out hacking at the weekend. Her pony is kept at a yard close to her school, and she knew people that rode on the school field so she asked the school if she was ok to ride on the field, they said yes.

So off she goes with a friend out onto the school field with their ponies, a few minutes later some man appears running out of his back garden onto the field (his house backs onto the field) waving a leather belt around his head screaming at them to get off the field. Obviously ponies were spooked, the older of the 2 girls tried to keep her pony calm and reason with him asking him to calm down and leave them alone. He carries on chasing them, and the 14 year old girl's pony is hugely spooked - they get to a bank to come down off the field and the pony falls over, knees buckling from under him. Little girl falls off, pony's knees are bleeding and he is lame but she has to get back on to get away from this lunatic.

They make their way down the road back towards the yard when the man re-appears in their car, spinning it around doing donuts to block their path. He chases them up and down the road blocking their path until the older girl calls her dad. Her dad turned up after maniac had left, but managed to follow his car back to find out where he lived.

As a stroke of good luck the 14 year old's dad is a police inspector who normally works in London but was back up at home for the weekend. He went round to this man's house, without telling him he was a police inspector to talk to him as a father (bear in mind this man has 2 kids as well). He wouldnt back down and called the girls 'spoilt princesses' despite his own children attending the same private school and living in a very wealthy area. He said he'd contacted the police and had been taking pictures of his daughter, so at this point the police inspector took his badge out and informed him of his position in the police force. He then reeled of the crimes he had comitted - sexual offences on an underage teenager (Pictures were of his daughter, not of the horse or events), harassment, dangerous driving, criminal damage....the list went on and on.

Needless to say the man was a tad shocked, apparently he went whiter than anyone the police inspector had seen before! Pony is ok but obviously lots of vets bills and physio to follow the incident, the little girl is also ok - cuts and bruises, and badly shaken but nothing serious.

I just hope this maniac is brought to justice and has a criminal record as a very minimum, this is just appalling behaviour from a grown man. If he had such a problem with them being on the field then he should have spoken to the school or council, trying to attack an innocent 14 year old and her pony doesnt get you anywhere - apart from in trouble with a very senior police inspector!
 
That's shocking. But shouldn't a "senior police inspector" declare himself as a member of the police force rather than having a conversation to gain some sort of evidence and then whipping out his badge? As he was the father of one of the girls, I'd have thought he would have taken an impartial member of the police force with him.
 
That's shocking. But shouldn't a "senior police inspector" declare himself as a member of the police force rather than having a conversation to gain some sort of evidence and then whipping out his badge? As he was the father of one of the girls, I'd have thought he would have taken an impartial member of the police force with him.

True, and of course anything the chap did say wouldn't be admissible in court as evidence as he wasn't under caution. However, as a parent I would have just piled straight in too!
 
Poor girls. hope they and the ponies are ok. so does the field actually belong to the man or the school?
i think the dad should have gone there purely as a dad, not as a police officer. As it is not his force he should have taken a local policeman with him if he wanted to press charges surely.
He must have been raging though. It could have ended up worse than it did. I agree that it sounds like the man has mental health issues. that isn't rational behaviour.
 
Poor girls. hope they and the ponies are ok. so does the field actually belong to the man or the school?
i think the dad should have gone there purely as a dad, not as a police officer. As it is not his force he should have taken a local policeman with him if he wanted to press charges surely.
He must have been raging though. It could have ended up worse than it did. I agree that it sounds like the man has mental health issues. that isn't rational behaviour.

The field is school property and she had permission to ride on it, the man's garden backed onto the field (but separated by a fence) but clearly he still felt he had some right to say what happened on this field.

The dad did go as a dad, he never intended to mention him being a police inspector - he just wanted to find out what happened and to make the man understand how he'd hurt his daughter and the pony. He didnt know this man had called the police, so when the man made him aware of his he was then forced into revealing himself as a police inspector as this man had taken it beyond a pure civil dispute. He has since spoken to the local police to allow them to take it further and his daughter is pressing charges. He's not used any of his conversation as evidence, the 2 girls are the ones with the evidence and he has simply reported the nature of his conversation to the local police in an 'off the record' nature.
 
oh the man had called the police, sorry, misread that bit. well i hope it gets sorted as this could have ended way worse than it did. don't know why the man had called the police as can't see what the girls had done that was against the law. be interesting to hear what happens.
 
shes hardly a little girl if shes 14 is she? you make her sound like a 5 year old. also how is taking photos of a girl on a horse taking sexual photos?
 
shes hardly a little girl if shes 14 is she? you make her sound like a 5 year old. also how is taking photos of a girl on a horse taking sexual photos?

I dont think thats very fair...i have a 13 year old who would of been very scared and she is still a little girl...not all teeenagers are going on 40!
I honestly think this bloke needs looking at..he is obviously unhinged
 
There is no offence committed in taking a photograph of a clothed child in a public place, the father is surely aware of that and was simply trying to frighten the chap as much as possible (and to be fair who wouldn't). Anyone can take a photograph of anyone else in a public place.
 
shes hardly a little girl if shes 14 is she? you make her sound like a 5 year old. also how is taking photos of a girl on a horse taking sexual photos?

Depending upon the type of photo taken, they could be classed as level 1 indecent images.

Basically, nearly every photo taken of a child has the potential to be an indecent image. The law lacks some common sense here, and I have had to argue in countless police interviews what does and doesn't satisfy the criteria to be an indecent image.
 
There is no offence committed in taking a photograph of a clothed child in a public place, the father is surely aware of that and was simply trying to frighten the chap as much as possible (and to be fair who wouldn't). Anyone can take a photograph of anyone else in a public place.

You'd think so, but I have seen people prosecuted and convicted for having random pictures of people including children they don't know, and not in provocative poses etc.
 
Presumably it was of the girl and her friend on ponies on the school field. I can't see how that could be seen as indecent?

Depends on the content. From a common sense point of view they should not be classed as indecent but often are. I've had people in interviews having to explain that pictures of the young girl found at their home are actually of their daughter. Others who are photographers and take modelling pictures for catalogues can be in exactly the same boat.

Kids in school uniforms -nothing provocative- are normally seen to be level 1.

As I say, I have had more arguments than hot dinners with what is and isn't an indecent image. Unfortunately I've had to look at plenty of them to have the argument with the Police in interview.
 
There must also be some question of context. A single photo of a random child at a fete, say, is pretty benign. Multiple images of a single child with no connection to the photographer is starting to look like stalking!
 
There must also be some question of context. A single photo of a random child at a fete, say, is pretty benign. Multiple images of a single child with no connection to the photographer is starting to look like stalking!

In all seriousness, it sometimes comes down to me pointing out the context! As I say, common sense needs to be used in those situations :)
 
The photo of any child or young person can be used for the wrong reasons by those who take them or those they pass them on to.

No doubt the father has met some of the people in his line of work who you would not want to be in possession of a child's photo.

Do hope the pony and girls are OK, what an awful experience for them all.
 
Actually it's anything but clear regarding photographing children and photographs. For example if I wanted to photograph my son's nativity play the school can object unless they have the permission from every other parent of children who may possibly be in the same photo. Weddings is a very grey area too. Supposedly because the couple have invited family with children and commissioned a professional photographer to take photos unless the parents make the couple aware that they specifically don't wish their children to be photographed then they are part of that commission however if they then feature on the photographers website or even online password protected gallery without the parents permission potentially there could be an issue. The question I suppose is does the school playing field constitute a public place or private land? Furthermore if the gentleman took the photograph from his own premises/backgarden was he photographing in a public place or his own back yard?
 
The man has obviously behaved in an inappropriate manner, that endangered child and pony. Of course he should be brought to account.

How many times does various HHo's post on here about people behaving dangerously, or driving dangerously around their horses, and finally one person may be brought to account. Thank goodness.

Further, I would not like someone who behaved like this having photos of my child. The police must use what laws are available to them.
 
Any lawyers on this forum?! Would it be wise to remove this thread if it is a police matter that may proceed to court? Any online discussion may prejudice the result and be treated as contempt of court? Not sure...
 
i didnt say 14 is not a child i said 14 is not a little girl. 7 is a little girl 14 is not! i highly doubt the bloke was going to do anything with the photos he took- he was probably taking them as evidence for whatever crime he thought they were comitting. not every man is a paedophile y'know
 
i didnt say 14 is not a child i said 14 is not a little girl. 7 is a little girl 14 is not! i highly doubt the bloke was going to do anything with the photos he took- he was probably taking them as evidence for whatever crime he thought they were comitting. not every man is a paedophile y'know

i don't think the issue is, whether this man was a paedophile or not, the issue is an adult acted in a completely intimidating (if not dangerous) way towards children!! There is simply no good reason for any grown man to behave this way.
 
magicmillbrook - it is highly offensive of you to suggest that someone who behaves in this shocking manner obviously has a mental health problem :(
 
magicmillbrook - it is highly offensive of you to suggest that someone who behaves in this shocking manner obviously has a mental health problem :(

Why? It's hardly the behaviour of a rational, clear thinking adult, is it? As someone who had suffered mental health issues all of my life, I can assure you I am NOT offended in the slightest. Why would I be? :rolleyes:
 
Was there actually really permission to ride on a school playing field? I can't think of many fields that would think this is ok...
 
Was there actually really permission to ride on a school playing field? I can't think of many fields that would think this is ok...

Yeah, I was wondering about that too. Unless of course it's a vast private school with additional surrounding acreage not being used for school activities? I can't imagine many 'normal' schools being happy having hoof divots all across their playing fields! :D
 
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