Sick pals who killed and mutilated a lamb may have to leave Macclesfield because of the furious reaction to their crime.

Matthew Davidson, 28, and Kevin Sherratt, 33, grabbed the animal from a farm in Gawsworth before beating it to death with a hammer.

The pair, who were both jailed at Macclesfield Magistrates’ Court for three months, have received hate mail – including one message saying they should hang for their crime.

The court was told that Sherratt had been disowned by his family and that Davidson’s landlord has ordered him to leave.

Lesley Herman, defending the pair, told the court: “Both are thinking of leaving the town because of the publicity.”

They made national news after the Macclesfield Express reported how they cut off two of the animal’s legs and head before fleeing the scene.

The slaughter was captured in a series of photos, including one where Davidson paraded the lamb’s head.

But the drunken prank backfired when they sent the photos to a friend who alerted police.

Davidson, of Brocklehurst Avenue, Hurdsfield, and Sherratt, of Kendal Road, Weston, both admitted criminal damage and theft at the town’s magistrates court on May 15. The case provoked public outrage and culminated in both men receiving death threats.

Magistrates described the actions of the pair as ‘horrible’ before sending them to jail.

Simon Pover, prosecuting, said: “On April 26, the farmer discovered one of the hoggits (year-old lambs) had been killed and its body mutilated. Its remains were found on a footpath. Both hind legs and the head had been removed.

“On April 25 at 8pm, a friend known to both defendants received a voice mail message from Davidson asking ‘you up for killing a cow, pal?’

“At 11pm that same night he received a text message from Sherratt saying ‘seriously mate, how much fun we had, Oh my days’. He then received five pictures of the men slaughtering and mutilating the sheep with a knife or blade.

“In another picture, Davidson was stood in Sherratt’s home with the lamb’s head aloft. Another text said: ‘Lamb sorted. Only Yorkshires needed now’.”

Mr Pover said other messages bragged about the brutal act.

One text from Davidson said: ‘I hope we didn’t scare you with all this. We were a bit (drunk) and thought about Sunday dinner. Think I might have found my new career as a butcher not a builder’.”

In a final voicemail message Sherratt boasted about the attack and said: ‘It was well funny. I held it down and said do not hit my hand with that hammer. What does he do, but on the killer blow hit my hand with the hammer. It took the top off my knuckle. He is a lunatic’.

The police found bags containing the animal’s body parts and bloodied tools in a shed at Sherratt’s home.

Mr Pover told the court: “Sherratt told police they were drunk at home and decided they wanted a roast dinner. He said he had hunted smaller animals.

“They decided to kill a sheep and got a claw hammer and serrated knife. They went to a field during the night, caught a sheep by running alongside it, pushing it and pinning it to the floor.

“He said the first blow killed it but they took an extra two or three strokes to make sure. They both skinned the animal.

“Davidson told police he had spent three days at Sherratt’s house and been drunk throughout. He couldn’t remember much but recalled being in a field with a sheep.”

Lesley Herman, defending the pair, who are both unemployed alcoholics, said her own reaction to the act had been one of horror. She said: “Despite this, and after spending time with both defendants, it is hard to square up what they did with what kind of people they really are: intelligent and likeable young men.

“This is not that much different to poaching or what happens on a daily basis on a farm.

“It is the gloating that has caused the public concern. They understand why the public have been outraged by what they did.”

Chairman of the bench John Graham said: “These crimes were committed in a public place. You then sent horrible texts, pictures and voice messages.”

The pair were both ordered to pay £50 compensation to the farmer.