A SAMPFORD Spiney farmer believes occultists were responsible for the deaths of six dead sheep, found with broken necks and eyeballs removed. The sheep were found by farmer Daniel Alford as he did his rounds on the morning of Sunday October 16. Four corpses were laid out in a square in a field near Pork Hill. Two others had two granite stones laid between them on a remote part of Dartmoor at least half a mile from any road. Mr Alford, who found seven sheep killed similarly and left in a circle less than half a mile away in January, said he believed occultists were responsible. ?There was a clear full moon the previous night. This was a sacrifice ? they had their necks broken. Initially when you think of sacrifices you think sharp knives and slit throats. That wasn?t the case here. ?If they had killed them and taken them away, I would have accepted it more. ?Just to kill them and leave them is such a waste.? Mr Alford said the sheep were wild moorland animals and would have been difficult to catch without a net, so those involved must have known what they were doing. PC Steve Bradfield, beat manager for Princetown, said police were investigating, but were keeping an open mind about the motives behind the killing. ?We believe humans were responsible as opposed to animals and are appealing for anyone with any information to come forward,? he said.
