Man Cleared of Having Sex with Shetland Pony but Jailed for Outraging Public Decency

A judge said the jury believed a sexual incident with the pony had taken place, but couldn’t be sure full sexual intercourse had occurred. A man has been jailed for four years after he was cleared of having sex with a Shetland pony but convicted of outraging public decency.  Factory worker Alan Barnfield, 44, was accused of having sex with a pony called Sky in a field near Doncaster, South Yorkshire, in 2012.  Judge Peter Kelson QC told Barnfield he believed the jury had come to their verdicts because it believed a sexual incident with the animal took place in the field, but could not be sure that actual sexual intercourse had occurred.  Judge Kelson suggested it was possible that horse DNA got on to the defendant’s penis if he was masturbating while abusing Sky in a different way, including with a cider bottle.  The judge pointed out that, while the outraging public decency charge was only added halfway through the trial, it actually carried an unlimited sentence whereas the main charge he was cleared of – intercourse with an animal – carries a two-year maximum.   The second charge was added when lawyers in the case realised that Barnfield could only be found guilty of the central charge if he had actually inserted his penis into the animal and that he would have to be acquitted if this could not be proved.  Judge Kelson said the case was “unique and repulsive” and that Barnfield has an “utterly disgusting perversion”.