A MOTHER has spoken of her horror after a thug stamped on her children's pet guinea pigs and then lined up their broken bodies as trophies.

The killer struck at a home in Rosedale Avenue, Consett, on Saturday night, as the woman and her two children slept.

Someone scaled a wall to gain access to the back garden, before breaking into the hutches to attack the five guinea pigs.

After the animals were killed their mangled corpses were lined up outside the kitchen window.

The woman, who asked not to be named, made the gruesome discovery when she came down in the morning and opened the curtains.

She said: "I saw the guinea pigs strewn on the ground and started screaming.

"If it was a dog or a cat that had got into someone's garden and bit them, then I could maybe understand it. But these are docile animals and they never hurt anyone.

"This goes beyond a crime - it is pure evil."

Her screams woke up her 13-year-old son and daughter aged eight, who were also subjected to the horrifying sight.

The mother said: "The children won't even go in the back garden now. They are going to need counselling."

The family got three female guinea pigs from an animal shelter and one of them gave birth to a male and female soon after.

The mother said: "The children have seen these guinea pigs grow up.

"My daughter used to take them for walks in a pushchair. They were not just pets, they were part of the family."

Acting Chief Insp Catherine Boyd of Durham police said: "This was a disgusting act of animal cruelty that has deeply upset a mother and her children.

"It is possible that whoever did this has bragged about it to various friends and we would urge anyone who has any information to contact the police, before more domestic animals are attacked."

Anyone with information should contact PC Suzanne Muir of Consett police on (01207) 504204.