Channel 4 stars forced to flee new home after locals ‘sent death threats and killed their pets’

Lynn and Richard Appleby-Brisco starred in Channel 4’s Our Wildest Dreams (Picture: Facebook)

A family who starred in Channel 4’s Our Wildest Dreams felt forced to leave their home after allegedly receiving death threats from locals who harmed their pets.

Lynn and Richard Appleby-Brisco with their two daughters Emily, 12, and Yvie, 10, moved to the Guarda district of Portugal in 2016.

In the mini-series, British families left the UK in pursuit of their ‘wildest dream’ to live abroad in some of the most remote places in the world.

However, they claim that the dream quickly turned into a nightmare.

Lynn says the family dog Cu, an Estrela mountain cross retriever, died aged four after being attacked, their cats Ponyo and Bubbles were snatched, and goats were poisoned.

The 51-year-old claimed to The Sun that locals told her: ‘We’ve taken your pets and you’re next.’

Lynn was scared to be home alone (Picture: Facebook)

Fearing for her safety, Lynn would be scared to be home alone so she would travel to the nearest big town, and chose to carry a knife on their farm despite considering herself a ‘pacifist’.

The family, who hail from Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, think the turning point in their treatment came after their episode aired in 2018.

Lynn decided ‘enough was enough’ and flew back to the UK in February with Emily and Yvie, while Richard, 56, remains in the country trying to sell their home and bring back their belongings.

Richard is still in Portugal (Picture: Kennedy News)

Having poured their money into the move, their friend has set up a GoFundMe page asking for donations to help the family rebuild their life. They’ve reached £3853 of their £5000 target after 30 donations.

‘Initially, our lives were great, we wanted to integrate locally so didn’t mix as much with the expats, put our girls in the village school, bought a little farm on the edge of the village, started to learn the language better, did everything we thought right,’ Lynn wrote on the page.

However, she claims the positive start didn’t last: ‘Little did we know there was a storm of resentment in the village towards us, we had done nothing wrong so why would we even question it.

‘There was a storm of resentment’ (Picture: Facebook)

‘People were turning their backs when we walked down the street to shun us and my kids were spat at and told to go home English pigs. I had a breakdown and tried to take my life, we couldn’t stand it anymore.’

She claims Yvie, who has autism and ADHD, wasn’t getting the schooling she needed and couldn’t read or write at ten, and Emily also had gaps in her knowledge. The parents decided to take them out of school and educate them at home as Richard is a former teacher and they intended to move soon. She claims they were then accused of fraudulently creating the online school registrations and enrollment certificates.

‘Two police social workers came to our home with a view to taking the children. Fortunately, we had been moved to a safe house by a charitable organisation that protects families in Portugal and Spain and out of the country,’ she wrote in February.

The family on Our Wildest Dreams (Picture: Channel 4/ Renegade Pictures)

‘My beloved dog, my rescue cat and all I have is still there, we are literally left with the clothing we stand in and we don’t know how long this could take to solve. We have never liked asking for help but right now we need an absolute miracle.’

Lynn called the family ‘afraid, homeless and lost’. ‘Portugal has taken everything,’ she added.

Metro.co.uk has contacted Channel 4 for comment.

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