TWO men have been jailed for sheep rustling after more than £35,000 of prize ewes were stolen from farms in Skipton and Wrea.

Farm manager Andrew Piner, 50, enlisted the help of local ‘Jack-the-lad’ Thomas Redfern, 25, to steal the sheep from the barn and field where they were locked overnight.

Judge Simon Newell, sentencing at Preston Crown Court, said the offences struck at the heart of the agricultural community, saying: “Both of you were part and parcel of the close knit and essential trusting community. Much of the way they live depends on trust.”

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In September 2013 Redfern, of Bridgeford Close, Rishton, had been taken on as a stockman by Andrew Hewitson at Newton Hall Farm, who knew he had financial and family difficulties and ‘a bit of a reputation’ in the local area.

The ewes were kept in a field overnight but when 30 crossbred mule ewes were stolen overnight, police were called in to investigate.

The animals were later recovered at Lathams Farm, where Piner, of , was working as the farm manager.

Five months later the pair struck again, stealing 58 pedigree Beltex ewes, which were pregnant with lambs, from Curwen Hill Farm, near Wray, Lancaster.

Daniel Towers, the 25-year-old farmer, had been developing his flock and said it was clear the burglars had experience of sheep as they had stolen the best of his stock overnight in the raid in February 2014.

The ewes - valued at £29,000 were stored at a farm property in the Forest of Bowland, where Redfern had secured a tenancy.

But when Piner, who has a previous conviction for animal welfare offences, spoke to his landlord, he asked him not to tell anyone they were keeping the pedigree sheep on the land, adding: “They will look after themselves - if they die, they die.”

  • Full story in tomorrow's Lancashire Telegraph