Two sentenced for horse punch and violence at Bristol matches

Peter Mincher was fined £1,215 for punching a police horse in the head

A man who punched a police horse in the head before a football match in Bristol has been fined more than £1,000.

Peter Mincher, 43, was found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal by magistrates.

It happened before the National League play-off final between Hartlepool United and Torquay United at Ashton Gate in Bristol in June 2021.

Brandon Elvin, from Bristol, was jailed for four weeks for punching another man in a separate attack at the stadium.

Bristol Magistrates' Court heard how Mincher, from Lindsay Road, Hartlepool, attacked the police horse called Blaise prior to the game.

Elvin, 26, was seen by officers from Avon and Somerset Police punching another man to the floor after Bristol City's game against Queens Park Rangers on 30 December last year.

Brandon Elvin has been handed a six-year football banning order

His victim left the scene as he was arrested and has not been identified.

Elvin pleaded guilty to a public order offence when he appeared at the same court on 28 January and was also given a six-year ban from attending future matches.

PC Tom Williams, from Avon and Somerset Police, called the pair's actions "completely unacceptable.

"These two men have thrown punches in the middle of a residential street which...is likely to cause people alarm," he said.

"There is absolutely no place for any kind of violence in football and we will deal robustly with anyone who engages in such behaviour."