Family whose move abroad featured in Channel 4 show flees back to UK after Portuguese villagers ‘killed their pets and sent them death threats’

A British family whose move to Portugal was featured in a Channel 4 show have fled back to the UK after locals allegedly killed their pets and sent them death threats.

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 nightmare when a group of Portuguese villagers launched a campaign of hate against them.

During what became a ‘storm of rage’, their dog Cu – an estrela mountain cross retriever – died aged four after being attacked.

The family, from Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, also claim a local admitted stealing their cat Ponyo and her kitten Bubbles in January – after their goats were poisoned.

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

The family’s move to the remote village was filmed for Channel 4’s Our Wildest Dreams. They are pictured at the 2018 show here

Lynn said she was ‘scared to be in the house’ alone and wanted to ‘carry a knife’ when she went down to the yard

She told The sun: ‘I just couldn’t take it anymore and that was my absolute lowest point.

‘I was scared to be in the house alone so I would hang around the biggest local town all day to feel safe.

“It was so bad that when I went down to the farm I would have a knife with me and I consider myself a pacifist.”

The family believe they inadvertently put a target on their backs after their episode aired in 2018.

Among the outrageous incidents of harassment, the family were spat on and called ‘English pigs’ – while rumors spread that Mrs Appleby-Brisco was a devil-worshiping prostitute after she planted flowers outside their home.

The family of four flew home to the UK in February with a small suitcase containing a change of clothes and pyjamas.

Mrs Appleby-Brisco and her children, Emily, 12, and Yvie, 10, now live in a one-bed flat while their father is still trying to sell the property in Portugal and bring back all their belongings.

The family have raised £3,700 through a GoFundMe side to try to recover from the failed plan to move abroad.

On the page, Ms Appleby-Brisco wrote: ‘We arrived in Portugal almost eight years ago full of excitement to start a new, sustainable life. We were followed by the film crew from Channel 4’s Our Wildest Dreams as we wanted to inspire others.

“Initially our life was great, we wanted to integrate locally so we didn’t mix so much with the expatriates, put our girls in the village school, bought a small farm on the outskirts of the village, started to learn the language better, did everything, what we thought right.

Richard is pictured building their home in Portugal before being forced back to Britain

The family have raised £3,700 through a GoFundMe page to try to recover from the failed plan to move abroad

‘We didn’t know there was a storm of anger against us in the village, we hadn’t done anything wrong so why should we even question it.’

Channel 4 has been contacted for comment.

It comes after a former City investment banker who retired to the Algarve told MailOnline of her year of hell after an ‘aggressive’ neighbor took over her land and kicked her out of her home, forcing her to hide.

Orla Dargan, 65, bought her dream Portuguese villa for around €600,000 in 2016, and lived there happily for several years before her neighbour, an estate agent she describes as a ‘dangerous’ man, moved in next door.

The mother-of-two said she was warned about his ‘temperament’ and continued years of threatening behaviour, including an alleged attempt to run her off the road near her home.

Her beloved rescue dog was also found dead, floating in a shallow well with horrific injuries.