A ten-year-old girl and her mother have been left devastated after their pet pony and horse were killed in a fire deliberately started for pleasure by arsonists in Bolton.
Little Milli Knowles and stable hand Samantha Brierley, 38, had treasured nine-year-old cob General and 27-year old Shetland pony Penny so much the animals were regarded as ‘family’.
But at 5am on Tuesday both animals perished after thugs crept into their remote stables and used petrol and firelighters to set them ablaze.
Firefighters called by a neighbour who spotted the blaze put out the flames – but the horse and pony were trapped inside the wooden building and could not be saved.
HOW COULD THEY? Milli’s father John Knowles said the culprits are ‘sick’ ( © Cavendish Press)
Samantha dashed to the scene of the blaze in Astley Bridge, near Bolton, only to collapse with shock.
Today as police hunted the yobs, Milli’s father John Knowles, 44, a glass repairman condemned the culprits as ‘sick’.
He said: “I have got no idea why this has happened. I am not scared but I am in disbelief – it is unbelievable.
“I can’t believe it has happened. How can someone do something like that? It is just sick.
“Milli simply cannot understand why someone would do something like this. She keeps asking the question, ‘why would they do it?’ and unfortunately that question cannot be answered logically by anyone.
“The horses were penned into the stable with no way out.”
BURNT ALIVE: The General was nine-years-old ( © Cavendish Press)
The incident occurred just hours after Milli and Miss Brierley had taken the two animals out for rides on the Bank Holiday weekend.
Mr Knowles added: “We all put the horses to bed and they seemed very happy. Then we got a phone call at 5.15 am from the stable owner telling us to come down right now.
“He had got there within minutes as he lives just up the road. We live only around the corner from the stables. When we got there the fire was just being put out by the fire brigade, although it was still smoking. The horses had burned alive inside.
“General was my fiancee’s horse and the site was very horrific for her. She collapsed crying on the floor in front of the stables when she saw what had happened. The fire brigade put her in a fire engine to look after her for a bit.
“Milli also came down with us when we got the call. Penny was her baby and she is just as destroyed as the rest of us. Our neighbours had seen the stables on fire at 4.45am and called the fire brigade yet one of our neighbours said the stables were on fire as early as 4.11am.
“A van came earlier today to remove the remains of the horses although there is very little left of them. It is absolutely heart breaking. The horses are like our kids.
“I do not think this experience will ever leave my fiancée. I don’t see us having anymore horses in the near future. My wife’s job is to look after horses and this is going to make her work very hard. She has loved horses ever since she was a little girl.
“Penny is my daughter’s first horse and she was really really attached to her. She is just destroyed and heartbroken now. Milli has gone through a lot of trauma with Penny because she was stolen 12 months ago although we eventually got her back.
“Now this has just topped it off really. She is a 10-year-old girl and she finds it very emotional. It is absolutely heart breaking.
“Milli looked after Penny like she was her baby. We were thinking about getting her a horse to ride. She would always help out with mucking Penny out. Sometimes, mainly on weekends, she would get up before 6.30am to help Samantha muck out and groom them.
PART OF THE FAMILY: Millie was very close to Shetland pony Penny ( © Cavendish Press)
“Every day after school she would go to the stables to look after Penny. Friends of hers and kids from school would often come around to help her groom the horses. In many ways, it was a big family effort.
“She got closer and closer to horses and sometime said she want to do what my fiancée does, which is to look after horses. She is very relaxed with animals and she really loves them. We just at a loss as to why this has happened.”
Miss Brierley said: “I got a phone call to say the stables were on fire and I just needed to get here. Apparently I collapsed. Those animals were everything. I spend a big part of my life here. I feel like my heart has been ripped out.”
Stable owner David Davies built the stable block several years ago to house his own horses, but for the last eight months he has rented it out to the Knowles family.
He was due to sell the stables, his nearby home and riverbank land at auction later this week. He said: “The scene of the fire was just horrendous. I can’t envisage how anyone could do anything like that. The owners of those animals loved them to bits.”
GRIEF: Samantha Brierley collapsed upon hearing the awful news ( © Cavendish Press)
Detective Constable Dave Harris, from Greater Manchester Police said: “This was a deliberate fire that caused the death of two horses.
“The owner is understandably very distressed and we want to find out who did this as soon as possible. We have launched a joint investigation with the fire service.
“I would urge anyone who may have seen someone acting in a suspicious manner around the stables to contact police.”
Story and images via Cavendish Press
