Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Owner of horse who photobombed award-winning selfie demands share of £2,000 prize

Nicola Mitchell claims David Bellis should have asked for consent when he took a selfie with her horse and his son

Samuel Osborne
Tuesday 02 February 2016 16:23 GMT
Comments
Nicola Mitchell claims her family taught the horse to stick out its tongue
Nicola Mitchell claims her family taught the horse to stick out its tongue (JANEK SKARZYNSKI/AFP/Getty Images)

Your support helps us to tell the story

This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.

The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.

Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.

The owner of a horse who photobombed an award-winning selfie taken by a father and son has demanded a share of a prize worth £2,000.

After David Bellis, 31, and his son Jacob, three, won the main prize in Thomson Holidays' Make Me Smile competition, a £2,000 holiday, the horse's owner Nicola Mitchell claimed Mr Bellis should have asked for consent.

Mr Bellis took the photo wile walking with his son near their home in Prestatyn, north Wales.

He told Wales Online: “I don’t understand why Nicola is so annoyed. I was on a public path that everyone uses to go to the local school and everyone sees the horse there.”

“At first they thought I was winning £2,000 cash and said I should give them half, but it’s a holiday so they are not getting a penny. I’m not giving them the holiday either. They would have to come on the holiday with me – and that isn’t happening unless we’re both in a saddle together on the horse.”

Ms Mitchell says her family taught the horse, Betty, to stick out her tongue.

She said: “I was really annoyed to hear he had won a £2,000 holiday and had used a picture of our horse without our permission. He should have asked for our consent.

"There should be some token gesture as it is our horse that has really won them the holiday."

She added: “I didn’t even know that this competition was on. If I had known about it we would have entered and could have won as Betty is always sticking out her tongue.”

Thomson Holidays says it is investigating the matter.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in