A horse-molesting “deviant” who forced himself on a virgin mare called Honey in her own stable has failed to persuade top judges that he is not “dangerous.”

Julian Mark Ridgeway, 54, “groomed” the seven-year-old - who a court heard had “never been covered by a stallion” - in her stall on a West Yorkshire farm.

Honey’s owner became suspicious that she was being interfered with when she noticed that the “usually exuberant mare” had “become subdued.”

So she lay in wait under cover of darkness along with her husband on the night of May 10 last year, London’s Appeal Court heard.

Honey’s owners caught Ridgeway entering the farm in Netherton and leading her from her sleeping box.

When he was confronted, he swore and fled.

Ridgeway, of South Lane, Netherton, Wakefield, was later arrested and denied molesting Honey.

But a forensic examination revealed damning DNA evidence.

He was jailed for four years, with a six-year extended licence period, in February after being condemned as a “dangerous” offender.

He was convicted of having intercourse with an animal and trespass with intent to commit a sexual offence.

His lawyers asked Lady Justice Sharp, Mr Justice Jeremy Baker and Judge Mark Wall QC to cut his sentence.

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The court heard Ridgeway still denies having any sexual interest in horses.

That was despite the DNA evidence and the fact that equine porn was previously found at his home by police.

He also has a previous conviction for attempted murder, having “throttled” a 16-year-old girl, the court heard.

In 1990 the teenager had caught him “naked from the waist down at the rear-end of her pony.”

Ridgeway served an eight-year sentence for that offence.

Lady Justice Sharp said: “Dreadful stress” had been caused to Honey’s owner while the mare had been “harmed and upset.”

Ridgeway’s lawyers argued that he had wrongly been classified as a dangerous offender.

But Lady Justice Sharp said: “He did actually have sex with the horse and was moments away from having sex with the horse again.

“His purpose was to advance his perverted sexual desires. He had been found half-naked with a horse in the past.

“There was a very high risk that he would seek to have sex with a horse or pony in the future and that, if he was disturbed, he would resort to violence.

“There was no doubt he was dangerous.”