Branded 'English pigs', rumours of devil-worship and string of mystery pet ... trends now

A British family who were hounded out of Portugal by locals who branded them 'English pigs' and spread rumours of devil-worship have told how their dream life turned into a nightmare. 

Lynn and Richard Appleby-Brisco moved abroad in 2016 in the hope of starting a more 'affordable' life with their two young daughters in Portugal's Guarda district.

The family's move to the remote village was filmed for Channel 4's Our Wildest Dreams - but it soon became their wildest nightmares when a group of Portuguese villagers launched a campaign of hate against them.

During what became a 'storm of resentment', their dog Cu - an estrela mountain cross retriever - died aged four after being attacked. 

The Appleby-Brisco's ordeal has chilling echoes to that of Orla Dargan, who faced years of of threatening behaviour from a neighbour and found her rescue dog dead in a shallow well after she moved to Portugal in 2016.  

The family-of-four, from Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, also claim a local admitted to stealing their cat Ponyo and her kitten bubbles in January - after their goats were poisoned.

Ms Appleby-Brisco, 51, claims that when she confronted a villager about the mystery deaths, she was told: 'We've taken your pets and you're next.'

She told The Sun: 'I just couldn't take it anymore, and it was my absolute lowest point.

'I was scared to be in the house on my own so I would hang around the biggest local town all day to feel safe.

'It was so bad that when I would go down to the farm I would carry a knife with me, and I consider myself a pacifist.'

The family

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