Depraved teenagers attacked sheep with sticks, pelted them with bricks and ripped off their horns, leaving a country park looking 'like a murder scene', a court heard.

The gang laughed as they attacked the animals, with one 14-year-old boy inflicting an 'uppercut with a piece of wood' before riding the animal.

When police were called to the 'grotesque crime' they found the four youths - three boys and a girl - were 'jovial'.

One of the sheep targeted at the Alver Valley Country Park in Gosport, Hampshire. Three boys and a girl aged between 13 and 15 were involved

The gang laughed as they attacked the animals, with one 14-year-old boy inflicting an 'uppercut with a piece of wood' before riding the animal. Pictured: one of the sheep targeted

The court heard one officer said 'the level of blood was tantamount to a murder scene' at the Alver Valley Country Park in Gosport, Hampshire.

Two of the boys had also attacked sheep - ripping off a horn - two days earlier.

Prosecutor Lucy Linington told Portsmouth Youth Court a witness had called police after spotting the gang throwing bricks at the sheep on May 1 this year.

She said: 'They were laughing and not in any way aware as to the level of inflicted damage and depravity.

'The injuries sustained to some of the sheep were such that their horns were entirely removed.'

She said the sheep were 'panting, distressed, clearly in extreme pain' and that one gang member had said 'this is fun'.

The 15-year-old girl, two 14-year-old boys and a 13-year-old boy, none of whom can be named because of their ages, were castigated by a judge for their cruelty.

Sentencing them, District judge Anthony Callaway said: 'This is quite a grotesque act. Most decent people would be revolted by what you've done.

'To treat helpless animals in that way and to arm yourselves to do it is disgusting.

Two of the boys had also attacked sheep - ripping off a horn - two days earlier at the country park (pictured)

'Were you adults you'd go straight to prison and deserve to go to prison.

'I'd like to send you all to prison but the law says I can't do that.'

The judge imposed a 12-month referral order on the 15-year-old girl and the 14-year-old boy, both from Gosport. They admitted one charge of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal.

The 13-year-old boy received a nine-month extension to a current three-month referral order, and the other 14-year-old boy, from the Southampton area, received a 12-month youth rehabilitation order.

They both admitted two charges of causing suffering.