Great goose murder riddle ... enter the Flying Squad
÷ Puzzled police exhume shot bird as village mourns ÷ Animal lover offers £250,000 reward to flush out the killer ÷ Locals blame 4x4 drive-by thugs... but is there another suspect?
HIS sudden death at the hands of gun-toting outsiders in broad daylight sparked widespread shock in the rural village that he called home.
But last night, as a £250,000 reward was offered, there was mounting suspicion that the killing of a muchloved goose was an inside job.
The gander was initially thought to have died when a 4x4 pulled up and two laughing thugs shot him with an air rifle before speeding off.
Police at first ignored the discovery of the body in the village pond by a resident, who raked the goose from the water and noticed a suspicious hole beside one of its eyes.
However, as speculation mounted over the attack yesterday, officers began inquiries in the tiny village of Sandon, Hertfordshire, and exhumed the gander so a specialist post-mortem examination could be carried out in the search for clues about the death.
A wildlife lover even offered a reward of £250,000 for information leading to the attackers being convicted, after the incident prompted a lively discussion on Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine show.
The bird – known as Goose so as not to attract bad luck after several of his predecessors that were given names were run over – was a fixture of life in Sandon and even adorned the village sign.
Although it had previously been thought that the killers were outsiders, theories began to circulate yesterday that those responsible for the crime were closer to home.
While Goose was fondly remembered for helping ducks cross the road, and flowers were left in the old phone box where he
‘Whoever did this are scumbags’
lived, some suggested that his feisty nature may have made enemies. He was known to attack villagers who tried to access a post box near his home, especially during mating season.
It emerged that a village committee had recently announced plans to evict the fiercely territorial bird, moving Goose into a special box beside the village pond so a defibrillator could be put inside the phone box.
Mystery also surrounded the whereabouts of the couple who said they witnessed the attack, blaming occupants of a blue 4x4.
The pair, who recently moved to the village, told another resident who alerted George Walbridge.
Mr Walbridge, who has lived in Sandon for 28 years, retrieved Goose’s body from the pond and buried it nearby.
‘There was damage to his left eye but just the eye and only on one side,’ he said. ‘We called the police. They didn’t want to know.’
Mr Walbridge said he had been left in an ‘absolute rage’ by the incident, although he acknowledged that many people had been troubled by Goose’s ‘extremely aggressive’ behaviour.
Police officers dug up Goose’s remains yesterday to be sent to the Royal Veterinary College for a post-mortem examination.
The £250,000 reward for information on the ‘vile killers’ was offered by Radio 2 listener Peter Hunt, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, who said the incident made him feel sick.
Another listener, John Barker, from Cambridge, pledged a reward of £25,000 if anybody came forward with information on the killers.
‘ I am very upset about this situation,’ he said. ‘ They are scumbags and toe-rags doing this to animals.’
Goose’s early life was marked by tragedy when his mother was killed by a fox shortly after he hatched 11 years ago.
He eventually became a focal point of village life, occasionally wandering into exercise classes in the village hall, chasing off foxes and sometimes letting children pat him.
Jean Handley, a retired headmistress, said: ‘He’s been around for years and everybody is really upset about it.
‘He was certainly a village character. We all tended to avoid that postbox and go to the other one.’
Hertfordshire Police said: ‘At this stage we are unable to confirm how the goose died.
‘We will be speaking with local residents to try to establish if there are any witnesses because at the moment we only have thirdparty reports. If it can be confirmed the bird was shot, this would of course be investigated.’
Intentionally killing or injuring a wild bird is against the law and punishable by a fine of up to £5,000 and up to six months in jail.