CHILDREN as young as ten returning from school could have been responsible for an attack on a teenager's hens.

Miles Copeland, of Bishop Auckland, County Durham, found his birds tortured and maimed in their allotment pen at teatime on Monday.

Moments before making the grim discovery, he had confronted two boys - one wearing a white school shirt - on a neighbour's plot.

One of his pets was strung up by its neck and with its feet stretched across a fence with string, in the manner of a sacrifice.

Another's wings had been hacked off but was still alive, running around the pen squawking with pain, forcing Miles to end its suffering.

Three others were huddled in a corner, beaten to death with a stick. They were pedigree Orpingtons, left to Miles in the will of a family friend.

After burying the birds, he found a blunt penknife, which he handed to police

Miles' mother, Gillian, said the attack had been deliberate and premeditated.

She said: "They had to break into a secure enclosure to do this. It is appalling. They could have done something like this before and no doubt they will do it again, if they are not stopped.

"We don't know how anyone could be so cruel, particularly children. Miles was very upset. The hens were his pets and very tame. He sold their eggs to buy their food."

Mrs Copeland, who lives near the allotments in South Church, is prepared to offer a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the culprits.

She said the boys had fair hair and were accompanied by a terrier dog.

Police were revisiting the scene last night and ask anyone with information to call the Bishop Auckland station, on (01388) 603566.