Farmer witnesses sheep having throat slit in horror attack
Adam Neachell and his wife Jessica © Brett Allen A sheep farmer watched in horror as two men slit the throat of one of his in-lamb ewes in a field in broad daylight.
Adam Neachell and one of his workers were moving an electric fence in a field of turnips when they noticed the flock of Texel cross Mule ewes acting out of character.
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“It is a big 120-acre field and the sheep were running towards us, as if there was a dog in with them,” said Mr Neachell, of Shrubbery Farm, Aldridge, West Midlands.
They hopped on a quad bike to investigate and came across two men with one of the ewes, with her throat slit and dying.
“The men were Asian, aged about 25-30 and wearing dark clothing,” Mr Neachell recalled. “As soon as they saw us, they ran off.”
What shocked Mr Neachell was that it was 11.30am and the field has a public footpath running through it, which dozens of walkers use every day.
“It is a weird planet where this sort of thing happens when people are around,” he said.
Unborn lambs
He calculates that the loss of the ewe and her pair of unborn lambs is a £400 hit to his business.
Mr Neachell immediately reported the incident to the police. “The police have been brilliant. I have been really impressed with the way they have dealt with this,” he said.
His farm is on the edge of Walsall and, despite being close to a population centre, his farm has not previously been targeted.
“I know of other farmers who have had similar incidents but we have seen safe from that until now,” Mr Neachell said.
Anyone with any information about the incident is asked to message Staffordshire Police on Facebook or Twitter quoting incident number 249 of 3 February. Alternatively, contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.