A 21-year-old man from Kent has admitted causing the death of a horse in a river.

Ian Deer, from Dymchurch, pleaded guilty at Penrith Magistrates Court on Wednesday following an incident at the Appleby Horse Fair.

He had led the horse into the River Eden as part of an Appleby tradition on the second day of the fair. The horse panicked and subsequently drowned, to the horror of onlookers.

The case gained national publicity after footage and pictures of the incident were widely publicised.

Deer was arrested on November 13 by RSPCA inspectors and officers from Cumbria Police. He was subsequently charged with causing unnecessary suffering to the horse, under section 4(1) of the Animal Welfare Act 2006.

The case has been adjourned for a Newton hearing at the same court in February, where magistrates will decide his level of culpability.