PRANKSTERS who tied fishing line across Worcester’s racecourse hours before a meeting could have caused someone a serious injury, police have warned.

Police are investigating incidents where fishing line was tied to a jump at Worcester Racecourse and also across a footpath in Diglis.

Fishing line was discovered on the home straight and in front of the ditch jump at Worcester Racecourse on Friday, only hours before a race meeting began.

A spokesman for West Mercia Police said: “It is very fortunate that the fishing line was found as it could have caused serious injury to both horses and riders.”

In the second incident, at Diglis Basin on Sunday, a group of very young children – possibly all aged under 10 – were seen tying fishing line across a footpath and a stretch of water. The stunt could have injured pedestrians, cyclists and boat-users.

“Both of these incidents – in different parts of the city and not necessarily linked – demonstrate complete irresponsibility at best and malicious intent to injure at worst,” the spokesman said.

“There is strong information to say that very young children were involved in the second incident. We would ask all parents whose youngsters were in the Diglis area at about 6pm on Friday, September 25, to be sure that they know where they were, what they were doing and who they were with.”

Yesterday your Worcester News reported how vandals had caused thousands of pounds of damage by ripping apart a jump and setting fire to it on Monday.

Jenny Cheshire, hospitality manager at the racecourse, said the fishing line had been discovered early in the morning and did not affect the race meeting. “The fishing line was very thin and the animals would not have been injured. A full search was made of the area and nothing else was found. What happened on Monday night was much more damaging and upsetting,” she said.

Anyone with information about either incident is urged to contact police on 0300 333 3000, quoting either 89N/250909 for the Pitchcroft incident or 566S/270909 for the Diglis incident.