Dorset Police’s rural crime team is appealing for information regarding the theft of over £120,000 worth of machinery and equipment from a worksite in Purbeck, Dorset.
Officers believe the theft occurred between 12:00p.m on Saturday (January 14) and the morning of Monday (January 16) from the site off Morden road near Wareham.
The items that were stolen include:
- Keto 150 HD harvester head;
- Indeco IMH8 forestry mulcher;
- Intermaercato TG25 grab with CPR8 rotator;
- TMK800 tree shear;
- Cone splitter;
- Hydraulic cone splitter;
- Fuel pump;
- Hand tools.
Dorset Police’s community support investigator, Chris Hardy, said the force is carrying out a number of enquiries into the incident, which has “resulted in the loss of more than £120,000 worth of equipment”.
“I am appealing to anyone who witnessed any suspicious activity in the area between Saturday, January 14, and Monday, January 16, 2023, to please get in contact with us,” he said.
“I would also like to hear from anyone who comes across machinery similar to that described being offered for sale in unusual circumstances.”
Anyone with information in relation to the machinery theft is asked to contact Dorset Police at its website or by calling 101 and quoting the reference number 55230007748.
Rural crime
Hartley Crouch of Cottesmore Road, Ashwell, was recently convicted of theft after he stole a sheep, skinned it and fed it to hounds at a hunt.
The 23-year-old was working as a whipper-in for the Pytchley Hunt on March 13, 2022, when he shot dead a hunt member’s sheep, after which he skinned it and fed it to hounds.
For this, Crouch was immediately fired from his position in the hunt and the incident was reported to Northamptonshire Police.
He was charged with theft and found guilty of the offence at Northampton Magistrates’ Court last week (Wednesday, January 11).
Crouch was sentenced to a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £775 in costs, £150 in compensation and a surcharge of £22.
Chloe Gillies of Northamptonshire Police’s rural crime team said Crouch’s behaviour and the way he treated the sheep was distressing and upsetting to the owners, who had kept the sheep as a pet.
“This incident caused a great deal of upset to the owners of the sheep who had hand-reared it and kept it as a pet in the back garden,” she said.
“Crouch did not have the owners’ permission to kill the sheep and to dispose of it in the manner that he did was horrible.
“I am pleased Crouch was found guilty of the offence and I hope this case shows that Northamptonshire Police take incidents like this seriously.”
