Investigations into 101 dead lambs found dumped with slit throats have ground to a halt.

Hill Farm’s yard manager was left “horrified” last April after the animals were discovered at the Radlett site in individual transparent plastic bags.

They reportedly had slit marks by their throats and their ears appeared to have been cut off.

Manager Dannii explained at the time that some people had accused the farm of being behind it – but she clarified they would never dispose of any animals that way.

Watford Observer:

“It was disturbing that these poor creatures were just done away like that,” she added.

Dannii said there had been lots of fly-tipping there but it never involved dead animals. Doing so in this case would have required lots of effort, including cutting through gate locks at the back.

Herts Police previously said they believe the suspects accessed the farm through a road called Kemprow, and that they were likely driving a vehicle ranging in size from a flatbed truck to a box van.

“This is being treated as fly-tipping until we know more about how and why the lambs came to be there,” they added.

Watford Observer: Blurred images show the corpses.Blurred images show the corpses.

However, this week a Herts Police spokesperson provided an update confirming the mystery remains unsolved.

They said: “The incident has been fully investigated by police and a number of lines of enquiry have been explored.

“At this time this investigation has been passed to Hertsmere Borough Council, who are the lead agency for such matters. However, should any new information come to light then we will investigate.”

The local authority reiterated that the council and police had both looked into it but neither found those responsible, nor were they able to confirm the circumstances around the incident.

“We explored a number of lines of enquiries but the investigation has now closed,” they added.

“If anyone has any new information on this incident, please let us know and we can reopen our investigations.”

Police believe they were dumped sometime between 3pm on April 7 and 3.45pm on April 8. Anyone with information can report it via 101 quoting reference 41/27785/22.