A POLICE helicopter was drafted in to help search for a missing rider yesterday after reports of a horse running free.

NPAS Benson helped Thames Valley Police in the search at about 4pm yesterday afternoon around Blewbury, near Didcot.

The team said they were looking for an injured rider after police were called about a horse roaming around without him or her on its back.

The crew told the Oxford Mail it did not find the horse or the rider, but said 'hopefully they were reunited and no longer in the area'.