MORE than 20 horses face an uncertain future as the threat of closure hangs over their unauthorised rescue centre.

Walderslade couple Roy and Sharon Paskell are likely to be prosecuted after failing to comply with an enforcement notice ordering them to stop using a field off Rochester Road, Ayelsford, for their sanctuary, Pilgrims Meadow Horse Rescue.

Mr Paskell said that several of his older horses would have to be slaughtered if no new home could be found for them. The couple have run their sanctuary for just over two years.

Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council, which served the enforcement notice last year, agreed to take legal action at a meeting last week.

The Paskells have also denied that two of their dogs bit a woman while she walked in Rochester Road last month.

A woman in her 50s suffered bruising when two German Shepherds bit both her legs. The incident follows claims by several villagers that five dogs have repeatedly broken loose from the field in which they are kept, alongside a footpath off Rochester Road.

Following the incident, Maidstone and Malling Police said the dog owners had been warned to keep their dogs under control.

But Mr Paskell said his two young German Shepherd dogs were not to blame