'Satanic' cult fears as sheep is killed and tagged with occult symbols

The dead sheep, which was attacked, and had occult symbols painted on its wool coat.

The spate of incidents in the New Forest in Hampshire have also seen a sheep and two cows attacked as well as Satanic symbols painted on the door of a local church.

The first incident saw a dead ewe, which had suffered a puncture wound to its side, found in Penn Common Road, Bramshaw, on November 19, with the person who made the grisly, who does not wish to be named, stating that a pentagram had been painted on its side, a star on its face as well as an inverted cross and the number 666.

She told PA: "It's sickening, I was genuinely shocked to find something like that in the forest, I couldn't believe it."Why would somebody do this to a sheep, the poor thing. There are some strange people around."

The sheep also had a pentagram on its back.

A Hampshire Police spokesman said that a heifer and two calves have also been found with wounds in the Bramshaw and Linwood areas.

And on November 20 the graffiti of an inverted cross and the number 666 was found on the door of St Peter's Church in Bramshaw.

Rev David Bacon, vicar of Bramshaw, said: "The church door has been cleaned and needed redecorating but that's just a pain.

"The attacks on the animals have left people quite disturbed and scared, particularly people who have animals in the forest.

St Peter's Church in Bramshaw was targeted in the spate of strange incidents.

"We have had very very minor incidents in the past, little bits of graffiti, it doesn't happen very often, nothing like this."

Sergeant Andy Williams, of Hampshire Police, said: "These incidents are unusual in the New Forest.

"We are looking at the circumstances of each one to see if they are linked, and to see how these animals came to be injured."

Tony Hockley, chairman of the Commoners Defence Association (CDA) which represents those who keep animals in the New Forest, said: "Any harm to Commoners' animals is a huge concern.

"Commoning in the New Forest is a voluntary activity and many do it around our day jobs so any attack on any animal is a huge deterrent to continuing allowing animals to graze in the New Forest so anything like this is extremely worrying for the future of the New Forest."

Mr Hockley said he was not aware of a history of occult incidents in the area but added: "The New Forest, like many rural areas, has a historical association with witchcraft so that draws some people and some of the local shops trade on that but it's normally more about fairies."