Horse put down after illegal rave went on for hours in nearby field

A horse had to be put down just a few hours after an illegal rave was broken up.

Around 1,000 people gathered in an open field on Highmoor Heath in East Lulworth, Dorset, on Saturday night.

Bonfires, large sound systems and DJ decks were spotted on the Ministry of Defence land before police interrupted the event the following afternoon.

By that point, the rave had closed off the B3070, given locals a sleepless night and caused ‘distress to livestock on farmland’, Dorset Police’s deputy chief constable Sam de Reya said.

Now it has come to light that a horse in a nearby field was ‘involved in an accident’ and had to be put down.

Dorset Police said they had ‘no evidence to confirm’ a link between the two, despite saying the event had frightened nearby animals.

The force has not brought any criminal charges in relation to the horse’s death.

The rave was first reported at 12.36am on Sunday morning but the party was still in full swing by 1pm the next day.

The police had to explain to locals that they did not have enough officers to disperse a crowd of 1,000 people at once.

After the party had been shut down, Ms de Reya said: ‘Due to the large scale of the event and the inherent impact of dispersing such high number of people, this process took some time.