LOOSE horses caused havoc yesterday, as police and members of the community spent more than ten hours trying to catch them.

Police were called to the Dunnington area at 9.20am following reports a number of horses had broken loose and were running wild in the area.

The animals were posing a danger to motorists on the A1079 and police were forced to close the road between Grimston Bar, outside York, and Dauby Lane at Kexby, for intermittent periods during the day. The drama came to an end at about 7.30pm when two of the horses were shot by police and a further two were contained within a field.

She said: “We had to take the decision to humanely destroy two of the horses because of the risk to the public. Two of the horses are currently enclosed in a field with the permission of the land owner and the decision as to what to do with them now has not been made yet. The horses were constantly heading up to the A1079 and as they hadn’t been handled, nobody could get near them.”

Police had worked throughout the day with members of the community and a local vet to try and bring the horses under control.

The spokeswoman said the owner of the horses had died some time ago.