'Sick' man, 34, pleads guilty to bestiality after being caught having sex with former Dover mayor's horse
15 February 2023, 14:10 | Updated: 15 February 2023, 21:33
A former mayor of Dover has branded a man who admitted having sex with his horse "sick" and says he "deserves to be castrated".
Phillip Henry was seen with his trousers down and violating the cob horse inside a livery in the Kent town on his way back from work.
The horse is owned by town councillor Neil Rix, and was purchased for his grandchildren six years ago.
Mr Rix said he learned of what happened when an employee phoned him after checking on the animals.
"She phoned me and she was hysterical," he said.
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"She said she checked on the ponies, like we do a couple of times each day, when she saw him.
"As she got right up to him she realised his pants were around his ankles and he was giggling.
"She screamed at him and he pulled away looking mortified. He ran and she chased him and we got the police involved.
"I told her to get the horse straight into the stable and called the vet, who was there within 20 minutes.
"I said to the vet 'I don't care how much it costs, I want a proper DNA sample taken'. Eventually they arrested him and he was charged."
Henry pleaded guilty to bestiality today at Canterbury Crown Court, having previously denied assaulting the horse, Kent Online reported.
The groundworker, who is awaiting sentence, has been forbidden from going near “any sort of animal with a hoof”.
The court had heard the stable-hand found Henry having sex with the animal in the mid-afternoon.
Henry disappeared from the stables off Astley Avenue when the woman shooed him away, prompting a police investigation.
Henry was arrested soon after veterinary swabs identified his DNA inside the horse’s vagina.
He initially denied bestiality, claiming that the horse had been contaminated with sperm inadvertently after he ejaculated in the field.
But Henry later pleaded guilty to intentionally having sex with a living animal, namely a horse, which carries a maximum sentence of two years.
Ordering pre-sentence reports, Recorder Bernard Richmond KC told him: "The judge dealing with you, because it will not be me, will need to know all about you, in particular what motivated you to do this almost unbelievable piece of behaviour.
“I have to say, the fact that I’m adjourning this doesn’t mean the judge won’t pass a prison sentence.
“The judge will need to know why this happened - what was going on in your head?”
Granting the construction worker conditional bail, he added: “You are not to go near any sort of animal with a hoof.
“Be safe, keep away from all animals, that is not part of your order, that is a hint - off you go.”
Henry is prohibited from being at any stable or place where equine animals are housed permanently, or to have any contact with horses unsupervised.
Henry, who was supported by his dad in court, is set to be sentenced on March 17.
He also admitted to possessing a quantity of cannabis following the attack in July 2022.
Cllr Rix called Henry "sick" and voiced his relief that his grandchildren didn't witness the horror.
"It's unbelievable," he said.
"He's a sick b****** who deserves to be castrated. It's horrendous. At the end of the day he has done the right thing by pleading guilty.
"He's scum and needs locking up with the key chucked away. I'm thankful an adult caught him, not one of my grandchildren."
