The Sandon Goose was a beloved member of the community, but the animal's death, and potentially gruesome circumstances, shocked the sleepy Hertfordshire village.
Rumours of a drive-by shooting and an horrific attack abound, with a £275,000 bounty put out, but what really happened to the Sandon Goose? Herts True Crime looks back at the case.
The legend of the Sandon Goose
The Sandon Goose was adored by those who lived in the Hertfordshire village, and even commemorated on the village sign.
The 11-year-old male was often seen chaperoning new-born ducklings around the roads to keep them safe, even being brave enough to scare off foxes.
The bird called the village's decommissioned phone box home, but it would grow angry during mating season when it could see its own reflection, believing it to be another bird.
"He was a real character - he was hand-reared here and thought he was a duck," said Sandon resident, Gay Ayton.
"You'd see him in the middle of the road stopping traffic so the ducks could get by.
"Everyone knew him, the kids loved him."
"The goose was born beside the pond, about 11 years ago. My wife and I worked in a workshop next to the pond. We’ve lived with this extremely cross animal," said villager George Wallbridge.
"It was sometimes amusing and sometimes angering when people were trying to post letters, and he was trying to protect the post box."
Another resident, Jean Handley, described the goose as "absolutely eccentric", adding: "I rarely went to that post box, because I was so nervous of ‘Hissing Sid’, as I called him."
As such a beloved local figure, it seemed impossible to comprehend that the Sandon Goose could come to any harm, but on one weekend in February 2016, the unthinkable happened, stunning the village.
A murder most fowl
On the afternoon of Sunday, February 21, the body of the Sandon Goose was found floating the village pond by resident George Wallbridge, who pulled the beloved animal from the water.
He, along with other villagers, buried the goose by the pond, but then rumours surrounding the creature's death started to swirl.
"We understand that on Sunday afternoon, a blue 4x4 was seen cruising through the village," George told BBC Radio 5 Live.
"People moving into the cottage next to the pond saw the vehicle slow beside the pond. A rifle came out the window, the goose was shot and vehicle drove away."
Angry quickly spread around Sandon, with parish council clerk Helen Stubbings saying: "I think it's appalling that someone could come into a village in the middle of the day and shoot a defenceless animal.
"There were children running around and if one of them had been hit, it would have been truly awful. It could have easily ricocheted. The whole thing is just foolish.
"People around here do own guns but not for target practice on an innocent goose."
Geoff Coombes, who lived in the village, added: "What happened to this goose is a crime, the police should be tracking them down to teach them a lesson."
Children even left touching tributes to the Sandon Goose, laying flowers and poems at its phone box home as the village struggled to come to terms with the murder of the beloved animal.
Soon though, anger and disbelief spread beyond the village, with listeners to Jeremy Vine's BBC Radio 2 show offering a £275,000 reward to identify the people behind the drive-by shooting.
Keen to find out what had actually happened to the Sandon Goose, Herts police exhumed the body to carry out a post-mortem.
Mystery
Police made it clear that they had "no evidence to suggest the goose was shot", but they were determined to find out how the animal had died.
"If it can be confirmed the bird was shot, this would of course be investigated. If a person is found responsible we'd look at interviewing them jointly with the RSPCA," said a spokesperson.
"The evidence would then be considered as to whether the RSPCA or police would prosecute."
A test carried out by the Royal Veterinary College in March concluded it was not the victim of a shooting as initially feared, but rather died of natural causes.
The mystery of what happened to the Sandon Goose appeared to be solved, and it was far less shocking and gruesome than initially thought.
That was until a second test was carried out by the RVC in mid-April.
"Specialist officers based within the force's Rural Operational Support Team have remained in contact with the Royal Veterinary College throughout the inquiry," said a Herts police spokesperson.
"Following further tests the college has confirmed the goose died from a blunt force trauma, however there is no physical evidence to confirm the exact nature of the trauma and, despite significant media coverage, no witnesses have ever come forward to help the inquiry.
"The case has now been closed."
Who, or what, killed the Sandon Goose?
Sadly, the people of Sandon have never received an answer as to who, or what, caused the blunt force trauma that ultimately killed the village's beloved goose.
Sandon was inundated with offers of a replacement goose, but villagers were reluctant to accept them, citing the death of other pond-dwelling animals that had been hit by cars in previous years.
And that may, in fact, offer an explanation to how the Sandon Goose was killed.
"The sad truth is that almost every goose we’ve ever had here has ended up being run over, except him," said Penny Wallbridge.
"The pond is on a sharp corner and people come tearing round the bend. I’m not sure we want more heartache after this."
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