Farmers warned as brazen thieves work in broad daylight to target farms

This was the warning from NFU Mutual which said although thieves will take advantage of the cover of darkness at this time of year, gangs of organised criminals are working in broad daylight, ‘staking out farms and looking for opportunities to strike’.

NFU Mutual rural insurance specialist Rebecca Davidson said: “Over the past six weeks, we have seen a rising number of thefts, with the East Midlands particularly hard hit, as tractors and telehandlers from Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire are being stolen to order and [used] to rip out cash machines.”

She added police forces were also concerned hare coursing was spreading to more counties across the UK and that it was massively under-reported because of fear of reprisal.

“We are concerned about the impact this intimidation is having on farming families,” she said.

Farmer’s son Jack Watts, whose family farms on the southern edge of Exmoor, said he had implemented low-cost biosecurity measures ‘for peace of mind’.