A farmer said that his horses narrowly escaped certain death, when the barn they were sleeping went up in flames.

Ian Storey, who runs Beckside Farm in Carr Lane, Dewsbury, said that someone appeared to have let the five animals out moments after a large fire began in his outbuilding that was packed with straw at one end.

He said he was worried that the fire was deliberate, following numerous other incidents at the farm and now fears that the lives of more of his animals could be at risk.

Three fire crews were unable to tackle the blaze when half of his 120 foot barn went up in smoke on Saturday at 7.15pm.

The cause is now under investigation by the police.

Ian, whose farm is also home to 100 cattle, said: “The horses had a very narrow escape. Fortunately someone let them out of the barn door but I think they must have started it because the whole place went up very quickly.

“They’ve not suffered any physical injuries luckily but we’ve had to put them into livery at another stables and they got really spooked when we tried to make them go in due to what happened.

“I’m really worried that this could happen again and if it does, that animals could actually die.

“If they had chosen the building next to the barn, they could have killed all my cattle.”

He wants to raise awareness of the dangers that pranks at farmyards could cause and said that he plans to speak to pupils in nearby schools.

He said: “We’ve had problems with antisocial behaviour at the farm for several months, in which people have vandalised property and caused other damage. But this marks a worrying step up-it’s never been this bad before.

“Whilst playing about on farms and causing nuisance might seem like a bit of fun to some people, it could have a dangerous and lasting effect”.

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