A couple have been left shocked after a pesky otter managed to move a 5ft fence panel to attack fish in a pond - leaving headless fish strewn over their garden.

Karl Wilson, 46, was left scratching his head after finding three of his goldfish and two koi fish had been savagely attacked by a three-foot otter in January of this year.

He woke to find his half-eaten fish, some without their heads on, had been dragged from his pond and left for dead around his garden.

The gruesome footage was captured from Karl's CCTV, which shows an inquisitive otter entering the pond by moving a fence panel a gaining access through a pond net.

The otter then can be seen catching his first fish and going back to the pond to get four more over the space of an hour.

Karl, from Balderton Newark, Notts., built his pond in May of last year, and noticed some of his fish were going missing but didn't suspect an otter.

He said: "I built the pond back in May of last year and we started to notice that a few fish were disappearing.

"The pond was netted and we couldn't work out why they were going missing - we do have adders around the area, but we didn't think any more of it.

"Then, a few Sundays ago, my partner Gina looked out of the window and noticed there was something wrong with the pond.

"The board on top of the pond had been moved and I could see dead fish on top of the pond.

"We found half a chewed-up goldfish on top of the net and another goldfish in the water, dead.

"My best Koi was found outside my back garden door with its head chewed off and just left. There was a trail of scales leading from the pond to the front of my house.

"All of my fish - two koi and three goldfish - had all of their heads bitten off and left them for dead.

"We couldn't work out what was happening so I started to review some CCTV. You can see this otter run along the garden path, jump on the pond and starting to investigate a way to get in.

"He found a way through the stream next to the pond. You can clearly see him grabbing the fish, eating it on the lawn, and going back for more. He had five altogether. It has cost me about £150 in fish."

The following morning, Karl, who works for Severn Trent Water, and is a keen fisherman, secured the pond with extra netting and blocked access via a gate to help stop the otter from returning.

But Karl, and partner, Gina, 52, who have been living in the area for a decade, are baffled how a three-foot otter managed to move the fence pane on top of the pond.

He added: "I had a 5ft by 2ft fence panel on top of the pond to stop things like this. How this 3ft otter managed to move that I do not know. He just moved it out the way like it was cardboard.

"We've been left really surprised. It is not nice to see headless fish. I just hope that he doesn't come back for the other 13 fish I have.

"I'm starting to think this otter has been before, he knew his way around the garden.

"I'm really disappointed. I love fish. I have been a fisherman all my life. These Koi were so tame.

"It's a real shame and we have both found it quite upsetting."

The full hour-long otter attack footage has been compiled into a 13-minute video for Notts Fishing TV.