Two horses which bolted and charged through central London are in a “serious condition”, a minister has said.

The Household Cavalry said the animals – which were taking part in what the Army called a “routine exercise” in the Belgravia area on Wednesday – were spooked by builders dropping rubble from a height “right next to them”.

Defence minister James Cartlidge told Sky News on Thursday morning: “There were five horses. They have all been recovered.

“Three of them are fine, two of them are unfortunately in a relatively serious condition and obviously we will be monitoring that condition.”

He added: “They are in a serious condition, but as I understand, still alive.”

The minister also confirmed the names of the two animals, Vida and Quaker.

He stressed while the footage that emerged of the horses running through the capital was “dramatic”, it was “a very exceptional event”.

“This is extremely unlikely, this scenario,” he told LBC.

“Unfortunately we have seen what has happened, but all I can say is the crucial thing… no serious injuries to the public as far as we aware, and of course we will be keeping an eye on the situation.”

Four service personnel were thrown from their horses and the animals that ran loose smashed into vehicles, including a taxi and a tour bus.

Paramedics treated four people in three separate incidents in Buckingham Palace Road, Belgrave Square, and at the junction of Chancery Lane and Fleet Street, in the space of just 10 minutes.

Some of the soldiers were taken to hospital for treatment for their injuries, which were not thought to be serious.

One witness got off a bus and described seeing two horses, one black and the other white, “flying past”.

“The white one was drenched in blood from the chest down and they were galloping through the traffic at speed,” she said.

“People were stopping in the street shocked. The horses were running into fast-moving traffic and seemed terrified. Some unmarked police cars were chasing after them, which didn’t seem to be helping.

“I felt shocked. It was pretty gruesome. Felt like a weird dream.”

The horses were eventually recaptured by City of London Police and taken away to be assessed by Army vets.

The animals are all receiving care from vets at Hyde Park barracks.

Commanding Officer of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment Lieutenant Colonel Matt Woodward said in a video statement posted on X the unit exercises around 150 horses on the roads and in parks every morning, partly to help desensitise them to city noise.

He said the “shock” of building materials being dropped from a height near them caused the horses to bolt and unseat some riders

He added: “Thankfully, considering the frequency of exercise and numbers of horses involved, this type of incident is extremely rare, we continue to strive to minimise the risk of this recurring.

“As ever we are grateful for due consideration given by the members of the public to not making loud noises around our horses.”

When temperatures hit nearly 22C in parts of England earlier this month, people might have thought that spring had finally sprung.

But with May fast approaching, temperatures have suddenly dropped, forcing some back into their winter coats and others to switch the heating on once again.

So what has caused the mercury to drop to near-freezing in some parts?

According to Sky News weather presenter Jo Wheeler, an area of high pressure to the west of the UK is behind it.

UK weather: The latest Sky News forecast

“High pressure to the west of the UK and Ireland gave hopes for a few days of settled weather, even though it was forecast to be a ‘cloudy high’,” she says.

“And that is pretty much what we have seen, although the positioning of the high brought cold northerly winds – and eastern counties can vouch for this.

“The high was also weak enough to allow frontal systems (a collision of cold and warm air) to move through it, so we didn’t see entirely dry weather either.

“And, winds were strong enough to give a significant wind chill along the North Sea coasts, which was pretty bitter.”

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That, she says, has resulted in temperatures dropping a few degrees below the April average, though, according to Ms Wheeler “not by much”.

So when will temperatures rise again?

“We’re just a few days from May now, and a change is on the way,” she adds.

“Low pressure, spreading from the south at the weekend, will bring milder conditions but also some rain and fresher winds.”

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However, the next few days could still be relatively cold, particularly overnight on Friday and potentially Saturday, when temperatures in parts of northern and eastern England could drop to near or even below freezing, according to the Met Office.

And while they say temperatures are likely to “trend upwards” from Sunday, rain and cloudier weather is set to dominate next week, particularly in the south.

According to the Met Office’s forecast for next week, there will be drier weather in northern parts of the UK and a chance of rain or even thundery showers for a time in the east.

“Temperatures [are] likely to trend upwards, with the chance of a warm to very warm spell in some southern and eastern parts, before conditions probably turn drier, cooler and more settled from the west towards the end of the period,” they say.

Officers who failed to spot a murder victim had been shot could face a misconduct inquiry, a former senior detective has told Sky News.

Recently retired Brian Low, 65, was discovered dead on a secluded path near Aberfeldy, Perthshire in February.

Police Scotland initially classed his death as a “medical event” before launching a murder hunt a week later when they found gunshot wounds on his body.

The force, which has faced claims of a botched investigation, has admitted it still has no suspect and no motive two months on from the cold-blooded execution despite 30 officers working to crack the case.

The initial seven-day delay in declaring a murder inquiry is being examined by Scotland’s police watchdog, The Police Investigations & Review Commissioner (Pirc).

Former superintendent Martin Gallagher, who retired from the force in 2022, says there are concerns over the officers who discovered Mr Low’s body and wrote the case off as non-suspicious.

Mr Gallagher told Sky News vital clues could have been lost and the killer may even have returned to the scene given the area was not cordoned off for days.

He said: “You’ve had officers attend a crime scene who have misidentified what has happened. There are questions to be asked about their ability and about their conduct.

“Police Scotland made a mistake at the start which is very unfortunate, but that happens.

“Police Scotland will learn from this and hopefully a training programme will be looked at in terms of how we deal with crime scenes initially in terms of homicide.”

Police Scotland refused to take questions from Sky News in an interview.

A spokeswoman said: “The circumstances have been referred by Police Scotland to the Police Investigation and Review Commissioner.

“It would therefore be inappropriate to comment further.”

Officers have visited 478 properties and interviewed more than 800 people in the Perthshire area as part of the probe which is now entering its third month.

Local resident Chris Clear told Sky News he believes officers are examining a theory the suspect may have fled the scene on a bike.

He said: “Yesterday they were asking me if we had bicycles. They are really just looking for people who used the track where Brian was killed.

“Someone has done it. They probably live here. It puts a bad feeling across the whole of the village.”