POLICE arrested a man who was found taking a bath after a woman in Little Bedwyn heard an intruder upstairs in her home.

The woman raised the alarm as police investigated a spate of vandalism late on Tuesday October 31 in which a number of horses were freed from stables, one of them subsequently receiving an injury and having to be put down.

Police said the woman dialled 999 to say that after hearing noises she found a man in her bath.

A Wiltshire police spokesman said a number of properties in the village had been subjected to vandalism including The Harrow pub where a window was broken.

Earlier in the evening on Tuesday, said the spokesman, a man had been asked to leave the pub.

Police began to receive a string of complaints from villagers that their homes had been damaged by windows being broken, horses freed from stables and paddocks and exotic birds released from an aviary.

The spokesman said it was only through good fortune that none of the horses freed had been involved in a road accident although one had to be destroyed after apparently slipping and receiving an injury.

Officers later arrested a man who was helping them with their inquiries. The man was being examined by doctors yesterday to see if he is fit to be interviewed by police.