Horse exhumed after doubts cast on poisoning theory

A PRIZE stallion thought to have been poisoned earlier this month has been exhumed for further forensic testing.

Nicosia police yesterday told the Cyprus Mail that five-year-old Eaton Square had been exhumed on Wednesday afternoon in order for blood and urine samples to be taken.

The chestnut stallion, worth around £40,000, was found dead by an Egyptian farm hand on February 12.

The farm hand, Mahmoud Ahmed, was arrested on suspicion of poisoning the horse. He was initially remanded in custody for six days, but later released without charge for lack of evidence.

Preliminary veterinary examinations on Eaton Square indicated that he had died after being given a lung-paralysing injection in the neck.

Government veterinary services, however, on Wednesday asked to carry out further testing in order to investigate whether Eaton Square may have died of natural causes.

The police yesterday said that samples had been taken and were being examined at the Government Laboratory.

Eaton Square belonged to gynaecologist and horse-lover Dr Ioannis Mavrides and was kept at his owner’s Latsia farm on the outskirts of Nicosia.

He was used for breeding due to his own excellent parentage and success at the racetrack.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.