A BARN owl was stoned to death as it tried to shelter in its nesting box.

The brutal attack happened in a remote barn on farmland close to the village of Turkdean, near Stow-on-the-Wold in the Gloucestershire Cotswolds, on September 12.

Pc Chris Skinner, a rural beat officer and wildlife officer for the Stow area, said the killing was brutal and extremely disturbing.

He said the farmer who owned the barn where the rare owl was found dead was sickened by the attack.

Pc Skinner said: "The fact that this owl died such a needless death makes the incident particularly sad."

A conservation officer at the Barn Owl Trust described the attack on the owl, which had recently had two chicks, as deliberate and callous.

David Ramsden said: "It is outrageous that anyone could kill such a rare and beautiful bird."

Barn owls are protected with only 4,000 pairs left in Britain.