AN escaped bull had to be shot dead by police marksmen after going on the run from Haslingden auction market.

The bull escaped from an enclosure off Broadway and charged down Grasmere Road yesterday lunchtime.

The police helicopter was called in to track the animal which ended up in fields only a few hundred yards from the Edenfield by-pass.

Sergeant Steve Baines, of Rawtenstall police, said: " We received a report at 12.05pm that a bull had escaped from an enclosure and had made off in a rather irate frame of mind down Grasmere Road.

"A decision was made, following consultation between police and the auctioneers, that this bull would present a danger to anyone coming into contact with it and that it should be shot." The helicopter crew located the bull in a field and kept it in sight.

They also spotted two members of the public out walking their dogs and they were cleared to a safe distance by police officers.

A spokesman for the helicopter crew said: "The bull was mooching about, but it did not look too happy.

"The concern was that it would panic again and end up on the M66 or on the by-pass.

"The helicopter crew guided two police marksmen across the fields to a safe location where they could destroy it."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.