BARRY ROGERSON, THE 45-year-old Newcastle fan who was seen on video punching a police horse after the club’s match with Sunderland, is in fact an animal lover.
Speaking to The Mirror, Rogerson explained: “I reacted stupidly. I did not go out to attack a horse.
“I love animals – I’ve got three dogs, a fish pond out the back and I feed foxes across the road.”
The unemployed factory worker, who says that he’s now too scared to go outside owing to the 700 Twitter requests for his address, added:
“For some reason people are more upset about the fact that I hit a horse than a policewoman getting hurt.
“But I would like to apologise to the horse, to all the mounted section, to people of the North East.
“I am on medication and had been drinking, but that does not excuse what happened.”