Police hunt for person who killed pregnant sheep and her unborn lamb on Shropshire farm

• ITV News Central reporter Mark Gough speaks to the family who run the farm in Shropshire

Police are hunting for the person who horrifically killed a pregnant sheep and her unborn lamb on a farm in Shropshire.

Officers say they've seen more and more cases of people getting onto farms and killing an animal - which they believe is for the meat.

But in this case the ewe's body wasn't taken.

The farmer's son, Will Ridge, found the animal tied to a ram which was still alive.

Will was doing what he does every morning, checking up on and feeding the pregnant ewes on the family farm, near Church Stretton in Shropshire.

But last Thursday, he found one of the ewes had been tied up. She and her unborn lamb had been killed with a stick.

Debbie Ridge says she doesn't understand why anyone would do this to a sheep

Farmer Debbie Ridge said she was "absolutely devastated."

She added: "I can't, I just can't believe how somebody could do something to these innocent animals. They're minding their own business. You know, just about to go into lamb, so its two lives just destroyed for no reason.

"I just don't understand it. Just no logic. Why did they do it? It's a totally cruel act, in my opinion.

"It was done vindictively to be cruel."

The family say they're now having to be more vigilant to see if they can catch any perpetrators.

'I can't understand a motivation,' says PC Lightfoot

PC Jonathan Lightfoot, from West Mercia Police, says over the last year they've had several reports of people getting onto farms and killing animals - ostensibly for the meat.

PC Lightfoot said: "I can't understand a motivation for doing that. I can't see how anybody could understand or want to do that."

Will, Debbie, the family and the police want any help to find who did this.