A PRISON mutiny trial hit a hurdle when a horse wandered onto a motorway as a judge said he hoped for a smoother day tomorrow.

The trial of three men accused of a prison mutiny at Long Lartin continued at Worcester Crown Court on Tuesday despite delays caused by a horse on the M5 which set things back.

Richard Shanahan, 30, Paul Mapps, 34, and Richard Taylor, 27, deny mutiny at HMP Long Lartin on October 11, 2017.

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Violence, including prisoners throwing snooker balls, erupted in the category A prison's Echo Wing which housed 86 inmates. As previously reported, the catalyst for the incident was said to be the imposition of a smoking ban in September 2017.

The wing had to be abandoned and Tornado Team, a group of specialist officers, had to be rushed in to quell to the riot. The damage, placed at £50,000, included the results of a fire set in an office and took 12 weeks to repair.

Judge Martin Jackson, who has presided over the trial, said one of the barristers needed to check something before he continued with his questions for Mapp.

He added: "He's not in a position to do so quickly this afternoon before concluding the evidence of Mr Mapp."

The judge stressed this was 'not an early tea break' and that work on the case would continue in the jury's absence with the case nearing the stage of closing speeches followed by the summing up.

"Can we aim to resume at 10.15am tomorrow morning - hopefully without any travel problems, horses being on the motorway etc?" he said.

We reported on Tuesday how the loose horse caused chaos by running onto the M5, bringing traffic to a standstill.

Police spent several hours trying to catch the horse who had wandered onto the M5 from a nearby field closing both sides of the motorway.

Eventually, they managed to slip a leash around the horse and lead it to an awaiting horsebox.

Drivers were trapped on the motorway from 8.30am to 10am with many getting out of their cars to watch the ensuing chaos.

The incident caused long delays between Worcester and Droitwich Spa with junction 5 closed in both directions.

There were approximately 4.5 miles of congestion southbound and three miles of congestion northbound.