POLICE are hunting the killers of porpoises that were shot and battered to death in a spate of attacks along the coast of northeast England.

In the past three weeks the corpses of more than thirty porpoises — close relatives of the dolphin — have been found on beaches stretching from Northumberland to Lincolnshire.

Two were shot in the head — at least one with a high-powered rifle. The head injuries on a number of other porpoises suggest that they were beaten to death by someone wielding a heavy implement.

Police believe that the killers may be fishermen who accidentally caught the live porpoises in their nets before taking brutal measures to be rid of them.

Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, cetaceans — porpoises, dolphins and whales — are protected species. Anyone found guilty of their ill-treatment faces a six-month prison sentence.

The task of tracking down the culprits has fallen to Sergeant Chris Hine, a wildlife crime officer for Humberside Police. He has had to embark on a crash course in harbour porpoises, which are usually found within a few miles of the coast in murky waters.

Since the 14th-century reign of Edward II, porpoises have been designated — along with whales, dolphins and sturgeon — as Fishes Royal. As such, they are the responsibility of the Crown and in theory the disposal of any dead porpoise found on the shore is a matter for the government-appointed Receiver of Wreck.

In practice, the stench created by their decomposing bodies is so unpleasant that fishermen and other coastal dwellers will often take matters into their own hands. This has created a problem for Sergeant Hine, whose only evidence of the first shooting, on March 27, comes from photographs taken by a member of the public on a beach at Barmston, near Bridlington, East Yorkshire. These appear to show a small entry wound and a gaping exit wound at the back of the head.

The second shooting, of a porpoise at Newbiggin, Northumberland, was reported yesterday. It is hoped that a post -mortem examination will be carried out by experts at the Natural History Museum.

Mike Puplett, a watch officer for HM Coastguard, which is notified of any dead dolphin or porpoise on Britain’s beaches, said that in a typical year the agency would be told of between six and ten corpses along the coastline from the Scottish border to just south of the Humber.

To be landed with more than thirty within three weeks was, he said, unprecedented and the suggestion that a significant proportion of them had been deliberately killed by Man was baffling.

“We want to know why this is happening,” he said. “The killings have been reported across hundreds of miles of coastline, which suggests some sort of co-ordination.”

Mr Puplett, who is based at the Bridlington headquarters of the Humber Coastguard, shares the opinion of Sergeant Hine that the porpoises were probably shot by someone operating from a boat.

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