Malcolm Priorrural affairs producer
Early this summer a gang dressed in black and wearing balaclavas approached an isolated farmhouse in County Durham as a couple in their 80s slept inside.
They’d been staking out the property and knew exactly what to steal from the vehicles parked outside – a combine harvester’s expensive GPS equipment that could be smuggled abroad.
The farming family had fallen victim to what police say is increasingly brazen organised crime.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) said on Tuesday it was launching a new three-year crackdown that would help target the 20-plus gangs said to be currently operating across the countryside.
The government said the new policing strategy would be a “vital step” in tackling rural crime.
The NPCC said this year alone more than 155 arrests linked to rural organised crime gangs had been made, with nearly £13m worth of stolen farm equipment seized, some of which had been recovered from abroad, mostly from Eastern Europe.
The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) said that criminal gangs had been targeting farmers’ machinery, livestock and land for “too long” and there needed to be more help from specialist rural police officers.
One of the farms targeted belonged to William Maughan, a beef, poultry and arable farmer in County Durham whose parents live on the premises.
He said his was one of four farms in the local parish that were broken into on the same night.
Mr Maughan, a father of two, said the gang cut out GPS systems from vehicles on the farms, including from his combine harvester. His parents, both aged 80, slept through the break-in.
He told the : “It was very targeted. They knew exactly which equipment to take. They knew how to get into the farm where the combine was.
“There’s obviously been a lot of work done in advance to plan it and it’s not a nice feeling when that happens. It feels like you’re a target and could you be targeted again?
“The thought of coming across someone stealing equipment – in the early hours of the morning, fully balaclava’d-up and in dark clothing – where you live, where your children are, it’s not nice.”
Since the break-in Mr Maughan has had to pay out for improved security measures at the farm.
“We’re in the rolling countryside, in sleepy south Durham, so to be the victim of potentially international crime like this is quite hard to believe and it is quite shocking really,” he said.
‘Robust response’
These figures, however don’t tell the whole story. The estimated cost of tractor thefts alone rose by 17% to £1.5m, suggesting that some criminals are taking a more targeted approach.
The Country Land and Business Association (CLA), which represents rural businesses and landowners, said that farmers “have had enough of criminals and violent organised gangs targeting them”.
The scale of the police response to those gangs was revealed on Tuesday with the launch of a new nationwide rural and wildlife crime strategy that outlines how police will tackle all countryside crime over the next three years.
The NPCC said it would use intelligence-led policing, data analysis and crime mapping to identify crime hotspots and target resources to where organised crime groups were operating most often.
A spokeswoman for the NPCC said organised criminal gangs were “bringing a level of sophistication and menace that demands a robust and coordinated response”.
As well as machinery theft, the strategy also identifies eight other priority crime areas, including livestock worrying and theft, illegal hunting and poaching and crimes committed against protected species such as badgers, bats and birds of prey.
Rachel Hallos, vice-president of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), welcomed the strategy “as recognition of the serious and organised nature of rural crime”.
“But delivery is key: farmers need visible policing, swift recovery of stolen equipment and sentencing that deters repeat offenders,” she added.
Crime and policing minister Sarah Jones said rural crime “can wreak havoc on the livelihoods of farmers and countryside communities.”.
“This strategy is a vital step in our mission to deliver safer streets everywhere and comes as we give the police new powers to take on the organised criminal gangs targeting the agricultural sector,” she said.
The minister added that rural areas would see more “visible policing” in the future.
