Co Leitrim, which even now has a population of just 26,000, has kept many secrets during the 30 years of the Troubles. But perhaps its greatest mystery is what happened to Shergar, the racehorse once regarded as the nearest real-life equivalent to Pegasus, the winged horse from Greek mythology.



Now, however, an investigation by The Sunday Telegraph to mark the 25th anniversary of the horse's kidnapping finally solves the puzzle of Shergar's final hours, why his remains have never been found and how the Garda, the Irish police, bungled their investigation. The precise circumstances of Shergar's grisly death are also revealed for the first time.



Shergar was five years old and preparing for his second season as a breeding stallion when he was snatched from the Ballymany Stud in Co Kildare - just a stone's throw from The Curragh racetrack - on a foggy winter's evening.