'Barbaric' goat killers condemned

The killing of two pet goats has left a Devon family devastated.

The Turp family, from Ashburton, awoke on Sunday morning to discover two of their seven pet goats had been killed during the night.

Police said intruders stabbed one goat to death with a pitchfork and beat another around the head.

Owner Mike Turp explained his family was "devastated by the barbaric acts", which investigating officers said seemed to be motiveless attacks.

'Brutally killed'

He said: "The goats were pets - why anyone would do such a thing is beyond us. They must be sick."

Police say the two goats - six-year-old Storm and her 10-year-old mother Poppy - were tame and would have been friendly towards their attackers.

PC Andy Lobb from Devon and Cornwall Police said: "It would seem that these animals were brutally killed for no reason.

"We need help from the public to find these offenders who we think may have returned home covered in blood."