A HORRIFIED villager is urging drivers to kill their speed after the discovery of a dying animal left him “trembling”.

Leigh Daynes, 48, from Greenstead Green, found a badly injured deer in the middle of Church Road following a collision with a motorist who failed to stop after hitting the helpless animal.

Leigh rushed to the aid of the bleeding deer and slowly moved it from the road into a nearby field, where he stayed at its side until it died.

He said: “Greenstead Green is blighted with speeding cars and the real and present risk to life was rammed home to me this week.

“The deer was left to bleed to death in the road so I picked her up and laid her in a sunny corner of an adjacent field and I prayed as she drew her last breath.

“I was left trembling at the callousness of her killing and the senselessness of her death and urge drivers to slow down, because any life could be ended in a moment.”

Mr Daynes is part of the village’s volunteer Speed Watch scheme.

He says they often catch drivers breaking the 30mph speed limit. As a result of the traumatic experience and the high-speed vehicles he sees driving past his home on a daily basis, Mr Daynes is urging Essex County Council and Essex Police to enforce stricter limits on the road and calling for “immediate sanctions”.

Mr Daynes, who feels his village is often ignored by the authorities, said: “The road is not suited to high volumes of traffic or speed.

“Given the proximity of many houses to the road and the need for pedestrians to walk along it, there is probably a case to be made for a 20mph limit to be enforced.

“It would also be helpful for the police get on top of this seriously life-threatening problem by issuing immediate sanctions to speeding drivers.”

An Essex Highways spokesman said: “The Braintree Local Highway Panel is considering the practicalities of installing gateway features, however, finding a wide enough section of road to install these is problematic.

“Some drivers do, unfortunately, exceed the speed limit in almost all situations, and Highways has to prioritise those areas where there is evidence of higher-risk.”