Why the long face? Artist pilloried after creating half-horse, half-man sculpture

Aidan Harte was thrilled to be asked to make a statue of a puca, a mythological mischievous spirit, but then his troubles began

In Irish mythology, a puca is a mischievous, shapeshifting spirit that can take the form of a horse and entice unwary travellers on to its back for a wild ride.

Aidan Harte knows how that feels. Eighteen months ago the sculptor was commissioned to create a 2-metre tall bronze statue of a puca for the town square in Ennistymon, County Clare.