POLICE INVESTIGATING ritualistic killings of sheep in the New Forest region of England have arrested a 41-year-old man from Winchester.

There have been six apparently related sheep deaths in the area since mid-November, including one animal killed with a pitchfork and others dead from unspecified puncture wounds. Adding to public concern over the case has been the perpetrator's habit of marking the dead sheep with occult symbols, most commonly the pentagrams and inverted crosses associated with Satanism.

Despite this disturbing aspect of the sheep killings, the suspect now under arrest is currently only facing six counts of 'criminal damage'.

A Hampshire police spokesperson said of the charges: “They relate to the deaths of sheep in Wittensford Lane and Kewlake Lane, Cadnam, and Penn Road, Bramshaw.”

Police first expressed concern that 'Satanists' were targeting animals in the New Forest late last November, when the first sheep was found killed and spray-painted with symbols, while several cows were wounded in Hampshire woodland.

Then, in early January, police discovered a ewe which had been stabbed to death, with a cross made of hay and a broken pitchfork placed nearby. A few weeks later, police investigated three more sheep deaths in the area, also accompanied by occult paraphenalia.

"Targeted patrols of areas in the New Forest will continue," a Hampshire Police spokesman stressed.

Responding to the news of the arrest, New Forest farming community group, the Commoners Defence Association said on social media: “The CDA is pleased to hear that an arrest has been made in relation to attacks on sheep in the New Forest.”

CDA chairman, Tony Hockley added: "Any harm to Commoners' animals is a huge concern. The New Forest, like many rural areas, has a historical association with witchcraft so that draws some people and some of the local shops trade on that – but it's normally more about fairies."