The Metropolitan Police Force's Mounted Branch has a reasonably lavish annual budget of £11m, with officers working a standard week of 40 hours (or so it claims).

The warning comes just days after three teens were charged with "snatching" headphones from people on the Metropolitan Branch Trail. The youngest suspect is only 13 years old.

Four years ago, the noble beasts of the Metropolitan Police Department’s Mounted Patrol Unit left their stable, an old airplane hangar contaminated by lead-based paint, for a little lean-to. A few ...