A PIGEON fancier as told how drunken thugs went on a killing rampage in his pigeon loft.

When Barry Watson arrived at his loft on allotments near Chester-le-Street outdoor market he was horrified to find six of his prize birds dismembered.

It is thought youngsters, who left empty alcohol bottles lying around his shed, broke into the loft and tore the birds apart with their bare hands.

Mr Watson, 60, said it could cost up to £2,000 to replace the birds that had been killed.

The scene of carnage greeted Mr Watson when he went to feed his birds, which he uses for competitive racing, on Saturday morning.

Mr Watson, who recently retired after working at the Dunlop tyre factory in Sunderland, described the heartbreaking scene.

He said: "The way they killed them was just brutal. It looks like they picked them up and tore them apart with their bare hands.

"I found one still alive with a broken wing so I had to kill it myself. Another one had been brayed against the fence. It was really sick.

"It's not as if it's a rival sabotaging my birds.

"It was just wanton destruction."

Mr Watson, of Pelaw Square, South Pelaw, Chester-le-Street, is a member of Birtley Homing Society and regularly races his pigeons there.

Before last weekend's attack on his brood he had 15 cocks, 30 hens and more than 20 youngsters.

With a big race meeting planned for next weekend, he will now have to enter using different birds.

The attack on his pigeon loft has left Mr Watson uneasy about leaving his birds there.

He said: "I now have a feeling of trepidation every night because I don't know what's going to happen to my pigeons."

A spokesman for Chester-le-Street police said they were investigating the crime.

He said: "It was a piece of wanton cruelty that cannot by excused. Why these particular birds were targeted and killed defies a logical explanation.

"There was evidence that there had been youths in the area drinking, but whether they were responsible is open to conjecture."

Anyone with information on the attack, which occurred between 8.30pm and 10.30pm on Friday, is asked to contact Chester-le-Street police on 0191-388 4311.