Surge in countryside crime
From savage dog attacks to stolen livestock, vandalism to machinery thefts, Scottish farmers are under siege...
IT was the colour of the snow in the field that Robert Paterson noticed first. Streaks of red were everywhere. Then he saw the dead ewe crumpled in a bloody heap and others unable to stand due to their injuries.
Those which could move were huddled together in the corners, quivering with fear.
The off-the-leash dog which had terrorised the pedigree sheep in the Perthshire field was gone but the effects of its visit will be lifelong. Now the flock is petrified of the farm’s own sheep dogs. The dead ewe was carrying a lamb; another one was so spooked she miscarried and several suffered such severe leg wounds they will always be lame.
The cost to farmers of an attack like this typically runs into thousands of pounds and they are happening at a rate of one every two days. And sheep worrying, caused by irresponsible dog owners, is only a small part of the rural crime wave facing those whose living comes from the land.
Cattle rustling, a crime many might have imagined died out with the Old West, is a growing issue. Quad bikes, trailers and machinery are disappearing in organised raids and, in opportunist ones, goods such as wire, fuel and even farmyard gates are being stolen. Hare coursing, too, is said to be on the rise.
Never in living memory, say some farmers, has crime in the countryside been so rampant. Why is it, then, that there is not even so much as a mention of it in Police Scotland’s new report setting out its strategy for the next ten years? Are the police simply not focused on the less visible crimes which happen miles from our towns and cities? That is the growing suspicion among some country folk – and of Scottish Conservative MSP Liz Smith who has taken up their cause.
Speaking of the report, Serving a Changing Scotland – Policing 2026, the Mid-Scotland and Fife MSP said: ‘This document gives the impression that, rather like the SNP Government, Police Scotland is only focused on the Central Belt heartlands and has completely forgotten about the needs of rural people.’
She added: ‘It’s completely unacceptable for there not to be one mention of our rural communities and I would hope that Ministers in Edinburgh take time to set out their vision for combating countryside crime.’
The Paterson family, who own Dunruchan Farm near Muthill, Perthshire, is among the MSP’s constituents. It was 21-year-old Robert Paterson who discovered the carnage in the field in January but his father Tom, 82, who is counting the cost.
He said: ‘It was a horrendous sight. There was blood in the snow from one end of the field to the other. There were five corners in the field and some sheep were packed into each corner, desperate to get away. The ones which had been worried were lying about the field unable to get up and the dead one was in the middle.’
That pregnant ewe, he said, was one of his best breeders and had been tupped with a ram which cost £14,000. The ewe had bled to death.
Another of the ewes left lame by the dog’s teeth savaging her legs was a first prize winner at last year’s Perth Show.
Naturally, then, Mr Paterson had hoped for a measure of justice. But he was disappointed to see no serious efforts made to solve the crime.
He says: ‘If the Press spoke to the police they would tell you how they were interested but whenever we talk to them you get the feeling when they’ve gone that they weren’t very interested.
‘I wanted them to do a DNA test. They could have got it off the sheep that was dead and the dog I suspected of doing it but they wouldn’t because of a scarcity of funds.
‘They just pushed me to the side and said we can’t do any more.’
SHEEP worrying is largely accidental – caused by local dogs escaping from gardens and walkers who do not appreciate the dangers of letting dogs off the leash. Scottish Government figures show there were 179 reports of it last year – almost twice the 2014 figure of 95. The detection rate for 2016 was 57 per cent.
Conversely, a good deal of the rest of the crimes hitting rural communities are deliberate and targeted.
Mr Paterson tells of the neighbour who lost his quad bike when a thief casually pushed it down a farm track at night. Then, when the bike was far enough away from overlooking houses, the culprit turned the engine on and rode away.
There is talk in the farming community of quad bikes being stolen to order, then concealed in lorry loads of grain shipped to Ireland or continental Europe. And, while a traditionally relaxed attitude to security on farms may have contributed to the problem, Mr Paterson says padlocked equipment is disappearing just as regularly.
‘They come with these big wire cutters and they’re into it seconds,’ he says. ‘There are not that many in this area who have not lost something to thieves in the last five or six years. It may be insured but that’s one of the reasons that insurance premiums are so high.’
He added. ‘We feel in the country that a lot of rural crimes are just pushed to the side.’
It was sentiments like this which prompted Liz Smith to raise the issue of crime in the countryside with Rural Economy Minister Fergus Ewing last week, resulting in assurances that, of course, it was taken very seriously.
Certainly there is the Scottish Partnership Against Rural Crime (SPARC) to point to. A multiagency group, it includes representatives from Police Scotland, the Crown Office, the National Farmers’ Union (Scotland) and the Scottish Government among others.
And Jamie Smart of NFU Scotland says ‘positive results’ are now being seen both in encouraging farmers to protect property and report suspicious activity.
Mr Smart, who farms at Linlithgow, West Lothian, says: ‘Rural crime in all its forms – be it theft, livestock worrying, hare-coursing, vandalism or fly-tipping – remains a blight on Scotland’s countryside but it is an area where great strides are being taken to tackle the problem.
‘NFU Scotland will be studying the draft strategy and making recommendations to ensure that rural crime continues to be recognised as a priority going forward.’
The Police Scotland draft strategy makes for interesting reading. A whole page of it is taken up with an atmospheric shot of the undulating Scottish countryside, an empty highway snaking through it. Another page is wiped out with an image of a Police Scotland 4x4 purring along a single track road next to a loch.
But there is no mention of the crimes associated with these parts of the country.
Plenty on cyber-crime, shoplifting, alcohol-related crime and sexual crime, lots on evolving technologies, advances in forensic capabilities, partnerships and collaborations. But not a word in 31 pages on the issue of rural crime.
Liz Smith, who lives on a farm, acknowledges progress has been made as NFU Scotland claims.
But she says she hears a lot of ‘farm chat’, delivered bluntly by sons and daughters of the land already facing decreasing margins and uncertainty over Brexit.
The consensus is rural crime is the poor relation to the city variety.
‘Those who perpetrate serious rural crime are increasingly sophisticated and they now usually
operate in gangs at night,’ she says. ‘The incidence of low level crime, however, is also a worry and shows wilful irresponsibility.
‘I think the access laws make many people think they can access land anywhere and sometimes this is without due regard to animals. A small minority of dog owners are a real problem and, as yet, they are not being dealt with effectively. The NFUS should recognise this.’
In Ayrshire, Jimmy Ireland is counting the cost of a string of crimes around his beef and sheep farm near Galston. A few months ago two of his Beltex ewe lambs had to be put down after being savaged by two dogs. He added: ‘We’ve lost an all-terrain buggy and a quad bike and a whole load of hand tools – livestock as well.’
Yes, brazen thieves – perhaps from within the farming community itself – now steal cattle by the lorry-load.
‘Far be it from me to point the finger at our own kind,’ said Mr Ireland, ‘But they need to know what they’re doing to do this.
‘We lost four cows last winter. You can see the evidence of a lorry or a big truck and, at that time of year, if you shake a bag in front of cows they’ll come. They’re inquisitive, they’ll follow you, so you could get them in a pen or a lorry I’m sure.’
Last July, pedigree Suffolk sheep worth £11,000 were stolen from the Bilbster area of Caithness.
Some 49 Texel lambs and six bullocks were taken from a field at Barrachan, Newton Stewart, Wigtownshire, in November.
If the police have not woken up to the rural crime issue, says Mr Ireland, the criminals have. ‘It’s on their radar for sure because it just seems to be rising all the time.’
He added: ‘I think the police are just overwhelmed by the whole thing; they don’t have the manpower to deal with it because we’re talking about massive areas.’
There, perhaps, is the nub of the problem. In towns and cities CCTV is a key weapon in the police arsenal – but how can cameras patrol the countryside? Witnesses, clearly, are in more plentiful supply in urban areas than wildernesses and there are greater concentrations of officers too. Solving urban crimes may be easier, then, but rural crimes are no less criminal.
The suspicion among some in the countryside is that too little effort goes into solving them. The SNP dismisses the notion. A spokesman said: ‘It is disappointing to see the Tories attempting to score political points on the issue rather than working to tackle rural crime.
‘This SNP government is committed to providing a local police service which works alongside communities to tackle the problems faced by rural communities.’
Chief Superintendent Gavin Robertson, chairman of SPARC, denied towns and cities were prioritised at the expense of the countryside.
He said: ‘Police Scotland investigates every complaint it receives. It does not discriminate against any section of society.’
He added: ‘Certain rural crimes are more challenging than others, for reasons such as lack of witnesses or evidence.’
BUT growing numbers of rural properties were now defended by security systems including floodlighting and CCTV, he said. Mr Robertson added that DNA samples could in some cases be used to gather evidence in sheep worrying cases and work was under way to enhance forensic capability.
He said SPARC had worked ‘tirelessly’ to fit tracking devices to farm vehicles, leading to ‘thefts falling and better recoveries’.
Meanwhile, Assistant Chief Constable Malcolm Graham said: ‘Local policing will remain at the heart of what we do, supported by a wide range of specialist capabilities. Policing 2026 will allow us to create capacity by freeing up officers from office jobs and getting them out on the beat.’
The countryside has resounded with grumbles about ‘townies’ for centuries. If it is not weekend campers and their crates of ale littering Loch Lomond it is urbanites marching up Ben Nevis in shorts and trainers. The question is, has Police Scotland misunderstood the countryside too?