A farmer has been left devastated after finding his sheep had been viciously attacked late last night.

William Pynn arrived at Great Pested Farm in Challock this morning with his son Alex to discover some of his flock of 30 Romney sheep had been killed.

He had been alerted by neighbour who discovered the scene when she checked on her horse this morning.

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He said: "It was a horrible sight. There were three sheep with their throats ripped out but I could see one was still breathing.

"Three are definitely dead but we are going to lose more because they are so badly hurt they will have to be put to sleep.

"They have all got bite marks, five or six have broken legs and they were just left scattered across the field.

It is so upsetting, they were my sons first flock and we had some really good ewe lambs."

Mr Pynn, who lives in Pope Street in Godmersham, added that it is not the first time his animals have been brutally attacked.

He added: "We have had this before several years ago by two dogs in Canterbury.

"It's obviously a dog or a pack of dogs this time because you can see the paw prints in the mud.

"I just want to warn people and make them aware that this sort of thing is going on. I don't know where these dogs have come from.

"Obviously we hope to find out what happened and there is no way we are going to leave the rest of the sheep here for it to happen again."

A spokesman for Kent Police confirmed they were called to the farm this morning.

He said: “It appears the sheep have been attacked by a dog and several had to be put down.

“The sheep were attacked at some time between 1pm on Monday and 8am on Tuesday when the injured sheep were seen by a member of the public.

"It is not yet clear exactly how it happened.”

Officers are asking anyone with information to call PC Ashley Moore on 01233 896144 quoting reference 04-229.