A 74-YEAR-old widow has hit out at a hunt pack after hounds attacked a young deer in the grounds of her West Devon home on Saturday.

Vets at Okehampton were unable to save the baby roe deer, belonging to Vola Van Midden.

The ?horrifying? attack involved hounds of Mid Devon Hunt which has since issued a ?wholehearted? apology for the incident.

Mrs Van Minnen said her 14 acres of land were clearly marked as private property.

She said: ?My daughter had phoned me to say the hunt was about. I have CCTV cameras and I saw the hounds in my property. They attacked this little baby roe deer, the animal was screaming like a child in agony whilst being torn to pieces.

?It?s not true hounds go for the jugular ? they don?t, they go for the stomach ? it?s gruesome to see.?

Mrs Van Minnen lives alone after losing her husband to a heart attack six months ago. She said her son, who has a heart condition, also suffered an attack following the incident.

?I was at breaking point, it was very traumatic,? she said. ?We are animals lovers, they know we are anti-hunt and anti-animal cruelty, but they don?t seem to be able to control their hounds.?

Mrs Van Minnen said she had received no explanation or apology from the hunt since Saturday?s incident.

?Quite candidly I didn?t expect it of them,? she said. ?They should respect other people?s property and their likes and dislikes. I don?t believe in animal cruelty and now the time has come for me to make a stand.?

George Lyon-Smith, master of Mid Devon Hunt, confirmed that three hounds had crossed onto Mrs Van Minnen?s land while they were fox hunting on Saturday.

He said it was a ?very rare occurrence? for hounds to kill a deer and the hunt apologised ?wholeheartedly? for crossing onto Mrs Van Minnen?s land.

?We are making a thorough investigation to ensure it doesn?t happen in the future,? said Mr Lyon-Smith. He denied the hounds were out of control.

?They are very biddable,? he said.? We had lined the street to ensure the hounds didn?t enter the land, but these three slipped in.

?We were unable to get into the property, either to stop them or to view any damage that had been done.?

He added that the hunt did respect people?s wishes regarding hunting over private property.

?We try wherever possible not to cross onto land that we are not invited onto,? he said.

The incident was reported to Devon and Cornwall Police.

A spokesman for the police said trespass was a civil matter ? however, further investigations were being carried out by officers.