Anyone among you thinking of paying a visit to the Gloucestershire village of Leighterton with the intention of burgling the good burghers of that little piece of rural England might want to pick another target, The Sun suggests.

That's because Leighterton is protected by 60-year-old retired farmworker Keith Clifford and his herd of "highly-trained" attack sheep. And in case you're willing to laugh off the threat posed by the 24 ovine vigilantes, bear in mind that Keith has raised them from birth to strike without mercy - a fact attested by The Sun's promotion of the woolly Ninjas from "flock" to ruthless wolf-style "pack".

Keith's dog Birdie does the recon work, then orders in the pack to eliminate the threat. Keith said: "Normally sheep run away if they are frightened, but these don't. They are more than capable of handling themselves."

Mercifully, the sheep-pack has not yet been used in anger. The thought of a couple of behoodied ne'er-do-wells being torn limb from limb in a lanoline-lubricated killing frenzy is too horrible to contemplate. ®

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