Garden centre gets medieval with moat to deter thieves

A GARDEN centre owner has built a moat around his premises to keep would-be criminals at bay.

At a depth of 14ft and with steep sides, potential thieves could find themselves in very deep water.

Wayne Eady, the managing director at Volmary Ltd and Delamore Holdings in Wisbech St Mary, Cambs, said: “One of the reasons we did it was security – we knew there was quite a lot of rural crime in the area.”

After a spate of raids on nearby farms and agricultural merchants, Mr Eady felt compelled to protect his business, and came up with the medieval measure to deter villains.

Research carried out by the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) this year found that he was not alone in going to extreme measures to protect his livelihood. Its rural crime report showed that countryside workers were having to use ingenious methods to tackle the problem. Earth banks, dry ditches and stockade fences were increasingly being used by farmers.

David Blackwell, of the NFU in the East of England, said: “There is widespread concern that a new breed of brazen criminals are targeting the countryside and they are overcoming electronic security measures to steal expensive equipment and vehicles.”

Mr Blackwell was confident that both the combination of modern and archaic methods of security was driving down rural crime. He added: “Adapting centuries-old security with hi-tech solutions is already proving successful in keeping at bay thieves who don’t fear being caught on camera and have the skills to overcome electronic security systems.”

In the East of England the cost of crime was £5.7million in 2017, a rise of 1.2 per cent from 2016, when crime cost the region £5.6million.