AN ANIMAL-LOVING nine-year-old held a solitary protest outside the farm where 32 horses were found dead.

Katy Roberts was so upset by the gruesome discovery at Spindles Farm Heath, Chalk Lane, Hyde Heath that she stood outside with a sign reading "This Is Hell Farm".

Her silent protest brought hoots of support from passing motorists said her father, Chris Roberts.

He said: "She felt she needed to do it. Horses are her most favourite thing in the world, everything is horses for her.

"I think she is incredibly brave. She was putting her mark on what she believed was an atrocity."

The Stoke Mandeville Combined School pupil has a strong connection to the village as her late mother Nicola, who passed away from breast cancer in 2003, was born there, he said.

She also attends St John The Baptist church in Little Missenden with her father.

The youngster, of Weston Turville, was "in tears" when the RSPCA and police uncovered the conditions at the farm, the 49-year-old said.

"She was absolutely beside herself and emotionally distraught. I haven't seen her that way since her mother died."

Katy has hemiplegia, a partial-paralysis of the left side of her body, and is involved with the Riding For The Disabled Association at a stables in Fulmer, Slough.

For more information visit www.katyroberts.co.uk.