REGARDING the youths who garrotted a sheep near Evenwood, County Durham (Echo, June 30). It is appalling that someone can be capable of such cruelty. Sadly, this is not an isolated incident.

By all accounts, the North- East ranks highly in the animal cruelty league tables – an unenviable record for our part of the country.

It can only be hoped that those responsible will get their comeuppance sooner rather than later, not least because those who are violent towards animals tend to be violent towards their own kind.

Name and address supplied.

REGARDING the appalling sheep strangulation near Evenwood.

What satisfaction do those responsible get from their attacks on animals? Surely they are totally sick. This is just another example of how sick British society has become.

The police say that those responsible will feel the full force of the law.

What force? They’ll get a fine and some hours of community service.

The law and the justice system in this country have become a farce. This case should be thrust upon the desk of the Home Secretary to highlight what a scourge there is in today’s Britain.

If caught, those people responsible should be publicly named and shamed – and throw in a few strokes of the birch for good measure.

D Reed, Darlington.