A family of four guinea pigs, including a one-week-old baby were slaughtered and part buried in flower pots in their owner’s back garden in a senseless attack.

The bodies of Pancake, two-and-a-half years old, Butterscotch and Neopolitan, 18 months old, and baby Guinness – all which lived in a fox-proof hutch – were found by their owner Eileen Cox at her property in Caenwood Road, Ashtead.

Mrs Cox, who returned home from work on Wednesday, June 30, to find her pets were gone, said: “I’m devastated. I had just come home from work and saw the door to the hutch was open. I began to suspect straight away that they weren’t in the garden anymore because I couldn’t hear them moving around. I started looking for them and noticed one of my flower pots had a bit of fur coming out of it. I turned it around and there it was. After that I found the other ones scattered around in other flower pots.

“They could have left me at least one. I don’t know why they had to kill them all.”

The dental nurse then called her husband, Kenneth, who produced a leaflet to ask neighbours to tell police if they had seen anything suspicious.

On Tuesday, one day before the attack, Mrs Cox had arrived home to find the guinea pigs were let loose in the garden again.

Mrs Cox said she found a partial human footprint on dirt near the flowers and the bodies of her beloved guinea pigs had no bite marks.

She said: “I’m pretty sure they were not attacked by animals because the hutch door was open and their bodies did not have any marks.”

The oldest guinea pig, Pancake, was their mother and grandmother, and they had all been living with Mrs Cox since being rescued by a charity 18 months ago.

PC Jason Woods, Neighbourhood Specialist Officer for Ashtead, said: “These guinea pigs were much-loved pets, and this is obviously very distressing for the victim. I am not aware of any other incidents like this in the area, and am keen to find out if anyone has any information which could help our enquiries and establish who, or what, is responsible.”

Anyone with information about the incident should contact Surrey Police on 0845 125 2222.