Heartbreak as pet sheep stolen

Mandie Read said she knew immediately that Sheila had been stolen for meat

A woman who was heartbroken after her sheep was stolen said she believed her pet was stolen for meat.

Mandie Read had Sheila for about two years and kept her on land in Swindon, Staffordshire, with a lamb and some horses.

Sheila vanished on 11 February with Ms Read , from Kingswinford, convinced her pet was stolen for black market meat.

Livestock thefts have been increasing across the country. Staffordshire Police have said they were investigating.

"What they don't realise is it's not just an animal, it's a family member," Ms Read, a karate teacher, told the BBC.

"It broke our hearts. They might as well have taken my dog, my heart wouldn't be broken any less. She's a real big loss.

"It just makes me angry. I live on my own, my animals are my life. What gives them the right?"

She believed Sheila was targeted because she had become quite tame, enjoying chin scratches and affection from humans.

Sheila and Jane the lamb were inseparable

Ms Read adopted a pregnant Sheila from a farmer who had kept her as a commercial sheep, until she became "quite blind" and started to bang into electric fences, but her sight improved under Ms Read's care.

Sheila was pregnant with quads, but three of her four lambs were dragged off by a fox leaving the smallest of the lambs left - named Lucky by Ms Read.

Lucky sadly died at one-year-old due to an infection, so Ms Read adopted another lamb called Jane, who formed an inseparable bond with Sheila.

The day after Sheila was taken, Jane was found yelling out in a field she did not usually visit.

"Sheila and Jane were just inseparable. Jane was absolutely distraught, bleating and bleating and bleating. We knew Sheila had been taken," Ms Read said.

"She was just fabulous, she was a fabulous sheep," Ms Read said

A spokeswoman Staffordshire Police appealed for anyone with any information to contact them. CCTV had been checked and inquiries had been carried out.