Friday, February 6, 1959.

TWO killer dogs, at large in Balderstone, are thought to have joined forces in raids on farms.

So far this week, 39 ewes have been killed on four farms, prompting worried farmers to organise late night patrols.

Ewes are being brought into farmyards at night and electric lights have been placed at vantage points to keep losses down.

Mr H C Hewitt of Lower Home Farm, told the Telegraph: “I don’t think any farmer would hesitate to shoot a dog on sight.”

Twenty ewes have been killed this week on Mr J Kelsall’s Bezza Farm at Samlesbury, while J Oddie of Greetham House Farm has lost 11.

Mr Oddie was penning his animals in a large hen hut at night, while Mr Kelsall was patrolling his land with a double barrelled shotgun.

He said: “In the past two weeks my flock of 60 sheep has been cut down by half, illness has accounted for 10, the dogs have killed the rest.”

Meanwhile, two Colne youths who took a car from Nelson for a ‘joy ride’ and were involved in a 60 mph police chase, which ended with a crash with a stationary car and the death of two men, were sentenced to one days’s imprisonment at Lancaster Assizes.