MYSTERY surrounds the suspected poaching of 20 pheasants from a remote farmer’s field.

Police officers were on patrol in Mountnessing Road, Billericay, at 2am on Tuesday when they spotted three cars with their headlights off travelling in convoy over a farmer’s field.

The cars, carrying a total of six men, left the field and officers followed them to Crescent Road, where they pulled them over.

Two men got out of the cars and ran away. The police officers searched the vehicles and managed to detain the four other men.

In the boot of one car they discovered 19 dead pheasants, one of which had been killed by a gunshot.

However, no firearms were found inside the vehicle.

The four men were arrested for poaching and causing unnecessary suffering to a pheasant and taken to Basildon police station.

Officers later went back to Mountnessing Hall Farm, the 12th century manor which is on the land where the suspected poachers were originally spotted.

However, when officers interviewed the elderly owners, they said they did not own any pheasants and they were not aware of any on their land.

Police are still trying to find out where the birds came from, who they belong to and if they were stolen.

In the meantime, a 19-yearold man from Bowers Gifford, a 17-year-old from Bowers Gifford and a 21-year-old from Maidstone, Kent, have been released on police bail, pending further inquiries until December 2.

A 17-year-old boy from Bowers Gifford was also charged with breaking in to the office at a children’s centre in Kent.

He will appear at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on a date and time to be confirmed by the court service.

Anyone with information about where the pheasants came from, or anyone with any information about the incident should contact Essex Police on 101.