A Farmer has rejected claims that sheep have developed carnivorous tendencies.

Ornithologist Dr Niall Burton claimed last week that sheep roaming the moors in Weardale, County Durham, were eating grouse chicks.

But farmer Robbie Stobbs, of Newfield Farm, Stanhope, described Dr Burton's claim as "ludicrous".

Mr Stobbs, 74, was upset by reports in a tabloid newspaper that his wife Betty, 67, was pushed to her death down a rock face by "savage sheep" as she went to feed them on a six-wheel quad bike. Mrs Stobbs had been feeding the sheep on the farm the couple ran, when the vehicle toppled over.

At accidental death verdict was recorded at her inquest, in 1999.

"To link my wife's death to a silly story about sheep eating grouse chicks is shocking," said Mr Stobbs. "The whole family is astonished and deeply upset."

He has written to the editor of the Daily Star protesting at the "insensitive coverage" of the theory that Weardale sheep eat grouse chicks and linking it with his wife's death.