Police have apologised to a horse rider under investigation for calling a gypsy man a ‘pikey’ after they filed the probe into assault against him.
Cambridgeshire Constabulary had confirmed it is investigating the woman in her 40s for an alleged ‘racially aggravated comment’, despite closing the probe into the man’s alleged actions.
This comes after she claims she was riding her horse with her husband and 14-year-old daughter on a single-track country road in The Fens when during an argument with two men one of them drove a vehicle and hit a horse.
During this, as she was on the phone to the police, she said ‘F— off you pikey’.
Officers were called and that is when she was told she was a ‘suspect’ for a racially aggravated comment while filing its probe into the allegations made by the woman, which means they were closed until further information comes to light.
However, the force has now U-turned saying they ‘should never have been closed at such an early stage’ and reopening the investigation into the man’s alleged actions.
The Highway Code requires drivers to pass horses at a maximum of 10mph and a distance of at least two metres or six feet. Picture: Stock image of horse riders on the road side
The whole incident took place on Tuesday morning when the mother was out with her family.
While riding, she claims two men drove close by them at 30mph before slamming on the brakes, spooking two of their horses.
The Highway Code requires drivers to pass horses at a maximum of 10mph and a distance of at least two metres or six feet. Picture: Stock image of horse riders on the roadside
She claimed the driver and the passenger ‘jumped out of the vehicle and launched themselves at my daughter.’
She said her husband, a retired Armed Forces officer, ‘jumped off his horse’ and ran towards the daughter, at which point he was ‘pushed’ by the driver, before the father then pushed back in ‘self-defence’ and the mother called 999.
But after this, she claimed the driver returned to the driver’s door and pulled out what she at first thought was a knife but in retrospect could have been a screwdriver.
The mother said the pair then drove away from the confrontation before making a U-turn and ‘screaming’ at the family as they walked their horses.
She said: ‘I think at this point I said to the driver, ‘F— off you pikey’, as I was on the phone with the police.’
She explained how the driver got back in the car, ‘reversed and hit my horse’. The mother claims he was ‘threatening’ them.
The men then returned minutes later in a different vehicle saying ‘We’re gypsies. That’s a hate crime. We live down here. You’re not to come down here, or else.’
She claims she later apologised to the men for her heat-of-the-moment comment, saying she did not know the driver was a traveller and that she intended no malice or offence.
Officers were called to the scene and both parties were spoken to.
This follows an incident on Tuesday morning when she was riding a horse with her husband and 14-year-old daughter on a single-track country road in The Fens. Picture: Stock image of the Fens, Cambridgeshire
She claims officers were polite but then one of them referred to her as a ‘suspect’ which the mum says ‘My heart stopped as I said ‘You what?”
She claims the officer said that she was being investigated as they had a recording of her using the slur during the 999 call, adding that because there was no CCTV of the initial incident involving the horses ‘It’s your word against his’
A spokesperson for the force told the Telegraph it ‘filed’ its probe into the allegations made by the woman, which means they are closed until further information comes to light.
It said four crimes were raised, one for assault without injury, two for verbal abuse and one for racially aggravated comment.
It added the assault and verbal abuse cases were filed pending further investigative opportunities while an investigation continues into the racially-aggravated incident.
However a police spokesperson has confirmed that the investigation into the man has been reopened.
Cambridgeshire Constabulary said: ‘Our initial response to this incident was not appropriate and the crimes that were initially raised as a result of officers attending the scene, should never have been closed at such an early stage.
‘Quite simply, we got it wrong. A senior officer has reviewed those crimes today, and they have all been reopened and are now being actively investigated
‘As part of this process we will also be reviewing our response and why those crimes were filed, to prevent something like this happening again.
‘We regret any distress our handling of the incident has caused.’
