Fear as rare-breed of sheep are found ritually slaughtered to mark a satanic ritual

A rare-breed sheep has been sadistically slaughtered on Dartmoor in a Satanic ritual to mark the midsummer solstice.

It's the latest 'Devil worship' horror carried out over the last few years on bleak, lonely moors in Devon and Cornwall.

A woman farmer - who's too frightened to be named in case she is attacked by the black magic followers - found the ewe brutally mutilated in a field with one ear and a back leg hacked off and her jugular vein cut.

The ewe's lamb was wandering nearby, baa-ing plaintively for its dead mother.

The farmer discovered the rare-breed whiteface Dartmoor sheep when she went out to check her flock of 100 ewes and 90 lambs.

The corpse had been dragged around to leave an intricate bloody spiral on the grass in the remote Teign Valley on Dartmoor in Devon.

The mutilated ewe was discovered on Midsummer's Day morning by the farmer who says it the latest in a line of attacks by devil worshippers across Devon and Cornwall - mostly carried out on lonely moors in the dead of night.

Two months ago the same farmer found the severed leg of a lamb...on April 18th, the night of a full moon.

She said she does not want to be named for fear of reprisals, adding "We get enough hassle with dogs worrying sheep - we don't need devil worshippers as well.

"It was on Sunday - the summer solstice - and we found the ewe around 10.30am.

"It had happened earlier that morning, I would say - the blood was still wet.

"The back leg had been removed by somebody who knew exactly what they were doing.

"They cut around the muscle and the neck had been cut with what looked like a sharp knife.

"The ear with the tag in had been removed. It was horrendous."

The dead ewe was dragged around the grass in a circular shapes, before being dumped.

Police have recorded it as a case of 'inflicting unnecessary suffering on an animal' but wouldn't speculate on whether it was a Satanic ritual killing.

There was no sign of any vehicle tracks in the field, but it is possible to reach the area on foot by climbing over a locked gate, or walking up the shallow river.

The farmer added "She had a lamb, which I think will be okay, although it was quite distressed.

"But the value of the ewe is really neither here nor there. It's an animal that we have reared and cared for."

The awful attack comes two months after the same farmer found the severed leg of a lamb in the her field on April 18 - the night of a full moon.

"I didn't think much of it back in April, apart from being very annoyed at losing a lamb.

"Now, however, when I look back in my diary I see it was the full moon.

"It all seems to follow a pattern."

John Stowers, of the Deer Initiative, who is familiar with dog and fox attacks on livestock, inspected the remains of the ewe and concluded it had not been attacked by an animal.

He said "The animal had its jugular vein severed and has been dragged around in a circle.

"There has been a lot of cruelty cases around the area.

"Horses have been slashed and a goat had its hooves removed.

"Whoever is doing this is simply cruel. It is horrendous."

In 2013 a farming family on the edge of Dartmoor said members of a Satanic cult were slaughtering their animals including horses.

Maxine Beesley, whose livestock were killed in a series of horrendous attacks, said the secret cult was torturing them for warped sacrifices.

She told how animals - even ducks and goats - had been skinned, slaughtered and beheaded in gruesome rituals in the Teign Valley on Dartmoor.

Maxine and her teenage son Aziah said livestock had been attacked at their rural Devon farm, in an area which has been dogged by rumours of ritualistic slaughter for years.

In the first attack, in July 2013, four ducks were beheaded and laid out in pairs across the ground, while a goat named Minstrel had a horn partially ripped out.

A prized family horse also had one of its shoes ripped off using a crowbar days before it was due to be entered into a show jumping competition.

But worse savagery came in August when a pet goat called Chocolate was decapitated and disembowelled.

He also had his skin sliced away and laid out next to his severed head for the terrified family to find the next day.

Maxine and Aziah said they feared the butchery is part of an evil ceremony by devil worshippers.

A third attack, on another farm, in which a lamb was killed and mutilated was also being investigated by police.

Maxine said "Chocolate had been completely skinned with the meat taken off him. His neck had been broken.

"It looks as if it could have been done according to the ways of some religious sect. What happened to him was truly awful.

"I can't imagine what hell he went through at the time."

The family moved the rest of their animals to a secure location while police continued their investigation, but Maxine said they were struggling to understand why their livestock had been subjected to such horrific treatment.

"We still can't understand why this has happened. It's dreadful. All we know is that the person behind these terrible incidents need help.

"They need to be out away for their own good - and for everyone else's."

Steve Purser, chairman of the parish council in the nearby village of Bridford, said news of the killings had frightened locals.

He said "I know that rumours are abounding about what it is. They are gruesome discoveries. No one is panicking yet but there is some concern in the village."

Dartmoor and the surrounding countryside in Devon and Cornwall has been dogged by rumours of satanic rituals for years.

In 2012 a two-year-old horse called Eric was found with his right eye gouged out, teeth removed and genitalia hacked off on St Winebald Day - the day of satanic animal sacrifice.

In 2006 around 100 sheep were found slaughtered with their tongues, eyes and sexual organs removed on Dartmoor and their bodies arranged in a Satanic star shape.

In June 2013, around midsummer, police appealed for information after two horses were found with gaping knife wounds in neighbouring fields in the village of Stokeinteignhead, Devon.

Locals feared the two thoroughbreds were attacked to mark the summer solstice - a key date in the Satanic calender.