Four children quizzed after more than 100 animals are slaughtered

Four children have been quizzed by police after the sickening slaughter of more than 100 animals on a Teesside allotment.

Officers were called to Springfield allotments in Rectory Lane, Guisborough, where they were met by the carnage of butchered geese, ducks, chickens, ferrets and goats.

It is believed the animals - including some rare breeds - were bludgeoned with blunt instruments.

Blood-soaked weapons, which included a crowbar, claw hammer, a three-pronged hoe - used with such force it had bent out of shape - and a garden rake, were found at the scene covered in feathers.

Allotment owner, Neil Porritt said: “There were dead ducks, fluffy white chicks and goslings lying everywhere. There were animals with broken limbs, some limping, some lay dying - it was absolute carnage.”

A spokeswoman for Cleveland Police said: “We can confirm that four children - a 12-year-old girl, two 12-year-old boys and a 13-year-old boy - have been interviewed under police caution.”