News, views and top stories in your inbox. Don't miss our must-read newsletter Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

A pagan police force has been called in after animals were killed and daubed with pentagrams before a church was defaced with graffiti reading "666".

In recent weeks, a series of grisly discoveries have been made in the New Forest, including two dead sheep with pentagrams sprayed on them and a cow that was stabbed in the neck.

The number of the devil, 666, was also painted on the doors of a church in the quiet village of Bramshaw.

In the first incident, a dead ewe called Fluffy which had suffered a puncture wound to its side was found in Penn Common Road, Bramshaw, on November 19.

(Image: Solent News)

Owners Colin Barnes, 76, and Heather Miles, 68, found the sheep with a pentagram painted on its side, a star on its face as well as an inverted cross and the number 666.

She told MailOnline : "I don’t know anything about witchcraft or devil-worship. It was only later, when I started thinking about the weird markings, that I became suspicious.

"Now I reckon it might not have been coincidence that it happened on the night of a full moon. Those witches like that, don’t they? The sick b*****s."

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, phallic symbols and the number 666 was found on the church.

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

(Image: Roger Arbon/Solent News)

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

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

He added: "We know what the devil is like by the things you see done in his name. And if that’s sticking knives into sheep, it’s the work of somebody who seeks to follow him. Or it.

"The New Forest has always been a place where there's witchcraft. It still goes on today. But the white witches, as they call themselves, will be as appalled by this as anyone else."

The local police force has been left stumped, leaving officers from the Police Pagan Association to launch their own investigation.

Sergent Andy Party, who heads up the association - set-up 10 years ago to support pagan police officers - told The Times a pentagram is "a very emotive symbol and it always creates a furore".

But he added: "It doesn't necessarily mean it's connected to pagans."

(Image: Roger Arbon/Solent News)

He speculated the real culprits could be children or someone with mental health problems.

Simon Wood, a former member of the PPA and a member of the Pagans of Ytene, said he was concerned about discrimination against pagans among local people.

He told the paper: "There is a worry among us that this could be the work of someone trying to paint us in a bad light when really we are just as appalled as everyone by 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."