IN PRISON: Julian Ridgeway

Julian Ridgeway, 54, was jailed after a court heard he poses a risk of being violent towards people who might catch him having sex with a horse.

A jury convicted Ridgeway of intercourse with an animal and trespass with intent to commit a sexual offence after a trial at Leeds Crown Court in December last year.

Ridgeway, of South Lane, Netherton, Wakefield, has a previous conviction for attempting to murder a 16-year-old girl in 1990 after she caught him about to have sex with her pony.

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At his sentencing hearing today, the court heard police have concerns over the risk Ridgeway poses to members of the public.

Probation and psychiatric reports also stated that Ridgeway poses a significant risk of harm to animals and those who may challenge him while having sex with a horse.

Ridgeway was arrested in May last year after a couple hid in a barn in Netherton and kept watch when they became concerned about the way their 13-year-old mare, called Honey, had been behaving.

Honey’s owner Louise Lumley watched with her husband as Ridgeway lead the horse into a pen before challenging him.

Ridgeway ran off from the farm but was later questioned by police and denied being the man involved.

He was then arrested after DNA evidence was recovered from the animal.

At his trial in 1991, jurors heard Ridgeway twice chocked a teenager unconscious to silence her after she had found him in a "compromising situation" with her mare Ripple.

The victim had gone to a field off Denby Dale Road, Wakefield, to look for her pony and found Ridgeway half naked.

He had no trousers or underpants on and appeared to be washing the backside of her pony from a bucket.

In 2011, police searched Ridgeway's home and found a tape recording, entitled 'We Thought It Would Be Good', which featured an unknown man having sex with a horse.

Sentencing Rideway today, Recorder Paul Greaney, QC, said: "I am quite satisfied that you have a deep-seated sexual interest in horses and ponies that you struggle to control, and which you were unable to control in 1990 and 2016.

"There is a very high risk that you will seek to have sex with a horse or pony again in the future.

"You are likely to engage in serious violence against any person who finds you."

Recorder Greaney said he believed Ridgeway would have attacked Mrs Lumley during the incident in May if she had been alone.

Describing his offending, he said: "In my view this case is among the most serious cases of sexual intercourse with an animal.

"You have no intention of confronting or dealing with in any way, your deviant interest in horses. You have absolutely no insight."

Ridgeway must serve a custodial period period of four years, followed by an extended licence period of six years.