A pensioner has escaped jail after he was seen performing a sexual act with a horse.

Prosecutor Noelle Brockbank told the court that the witness had spotted the horse's head in David Walter Chamberlin's groin in a Billingham field, The Northern Echo reports.

The 71-year-old retired farm worker of The Crescent, Middlesbrough, pleaded guilty at Teesside Magistrates' Court to outraging public decency by committing a lewd act with the animal and was sentenced to a 24-month community order.

Brockbank said: "The witness was shaken and disgusted by what he saw. He was the owner of the horse.

"He picked up a stick and struck the defendant. That startled the horse, causing it to run off, dragging the defendant with it."

Chamberlin's solicitor Alex Bousfield said: "As I have previously said this incident is going to define the way people see Mr Chamberlin for the rest of his life.

"It is going to be more embarrassing for him. The owner of the horse was in court on the first occasion, telling people what happened.

"Mr Chamberlin cannot explain what happened. He didn't know how to account for that behaviour. It is not for me to put an explanation forward as he can't explain it either."

Chairman of the bench John Meredith told Chamberlin: "You have pleaded guilty to the charge of committing an act that outrages public decency.

"It is a serious matter the harm caused, the stress caused to the owner of the animal and to the animal itself."

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