A MAN has been jailed for six weeks after riding a horse in breach of a court order.

John Ginty had been ordered not to "leave any horse" on a piece of land owned by a housing association near Middlesbrough.

He was found to have breached the order by leaving horses on the land and "riding a horse at speed".

Detail emerged in a ruling published by a judge following a hearing at Middlesbrough County Court.

The ruling gave no background to the case, but it indicated that housing association Erimus had complained that Ginty was in contempt of a court order made in June, and the judge had agreed and jailed him.

A spokesman for Erimus, part of the Thirteen Group, explained that Ginty had originally been ordered not to tether his horse on land owned by the association and that was the order which had been breached.

He said: “It is disappointing the individual has failed to abide by the court order we obtained earlier this year. We operate a zero-tolerance policy towards anti-social behaviour, which has a negative impact on the local community.”