THREE youths have been arrested in connection with the brutal killing of a young family's pet rabbit and guinea pig.

The men, who have not yet been named, are helping police with their enquiries after officers received information from local people.

As the Citizen revealed last week, the Newhouse family returned from a holiday in Great Yarmouth to discover that Misty, the lop-eared rabbit and Daisy, the guinea pig, who was pregnant, had been stolen. The animals were later found dead in a local school playing field.

PC Craig Mossop, community beat manager for Skerton East, thanked the public for their help in the investigation.

He said: "It is a great example of a community acting together in response to a reprehensible act."