The coop before the attack

A stroke sufferer was left shaking and in tears when he woke up to find his 14 beloved chickens decapitated.

Grandfather Philip Fairbrother, 61, of Avington Grove, Penge, south-east London, is adamant the massacre was the work of a human after finding the headless bodies of the chickens in his garden on Saturday (4) morning at 10am.

He had locked them up in the coop at 10pm the night before and the police are treating the incident as a crime.

The hospital porter at Blackheath Hospital, said: “I have had fox attacks before and this is definitely the work of humans. Their heads were taken clean off. I didn’t hear anything. They were closed in their coop for the night and if a fox goes near them they make lots of noise but they don’t with humans as they are used to them.

“When I phoned the police they were going to call for an ambulance for me as I was so upset. I couldn’t bear to gather their bodies so a neighbour put them in a bag for me.

“They were beautiful chickens and the neighbours liked them. I deliberately didn’t get any cockerels as I didn’t want them to be noisy. The only noise they made was when they were laying eggs and a neighbour told me they like the sound as it is like being in the countryside.”

The animal lover who also has an eight-year-old African Grey Parrot called Stella, whom he describes as “his life”, used to spend at least two hours a day in the garden with his chickens.

He said: “They were therapeutic. I would watch them for two hours each day. They were beautiful. I have just suffered a minor stroke and the occupational health therapist has sent me home from work. When I saw them dead I was just stood there shaking and crying and a neighbour heard and came over.

“I want this to serve as a warning for people with animals to be vigilant. The people said people who do things like this tend to brag about their conquests so now I am hoping that if people hear anything they will call the police.”