Thieves feared to have slaughtered more than 100 stolen sheep – as criminals ‘weaponise’ cost of living crisis
When farmer Ed Lovejoy rounded up his sheep last month, he was left “stunned” and feeling “pretty sick”.
A total of 116 ewes had vanished from his flock of 460, and the missing livestock were worth £17,000.
Initially suspecting the animals may have escaped, Mr Lovejoy went searching near his farm in Woodchurch, Kent, but there was no trace of them.
It wasn’t until a witness reported seeing someone on a quad bike pushing the sheep to the side of a field that the reality dawned on the 40-year-old farmer.
Brazen thieves had staged a daring raid to steal the animals, which are now feared to have been slaughtered and their meat sold on the black market.
It comes amid warnings that Britain is a facing a “potential crime crisis” linked to the soaring cost of living.
Electricity thefts, shoplifting, insurance fraud and rural crime are reportedly on the increase as the cost of food and energy rises.
Fraudsters are “weaponising” the situation with a series of scams, a charity says, and organised crime groups are said to be viewing the crisis as an opportunity to recruit.
In the countryside, insurance company NFU Mutual has warned of an increase in rustling, and says that livestock worth £2.4m were stolen last year, and animals worth another £1.4m were taken in the first eight months of this year.
The stolen sheep were the Romney breed. File pic
Mr Lovejoy said the theft of his Romney sheep, a Kent breed, would have a “knock-on effect” on his business for two to three years.
He suspects the animals were taken to a “dodgy abattoir” or killed and the meat sold by the criminals themselves.
“There is years and years of breeding that goes into these sheep and you care for them all year round,” Mr Lovejoy told Sky News.
“For someone to just take them and steal them, it makes you feel pretty sick.
“I think they would have probably slaughtered them and put them into the food chain somehow.”
Fears livestock thieves can’t be stopped
Mr Lovejoy said he reported the theft to the police but the culprits have not been found.
He is now concerned the criminals will return and try to attempt to steal more.
“How do you secure 700 acres to stop people getting on it to steal sheep? I’m not sure it’s possible,” he said.
“It is a worry that they’re going to take more.
“If food becomes really expensive then there’s always a black market.
“If the cost of living crisis gets worse, there’s a chance we’re going to see more and more livestock thefts.”
One farmer near Plymouth painted the horns of his sheep bright green to make them identifiable and protect against thefts. Pic: NFU Mutual
Rise in violent crime predicted
A criminologist says the UK faces a “potential crime crisis” linked to the cost of living, including an increase in violence on the streets.
Dr Robert Hesketh, from Liverpool John Moores University, told Sky News: “As the cost of living crisis starts to peak, I think there will be an increase (in crime) – I think it’s a no-brainer.
“In areas like mine – marginalised areas, areas of social exclusion – it’s going to shoot up, particularly with young people.
“I heard on one occasion the family of a young person being told: ‘Look, we’ll pay your Sky bills, just let your lad do some deliveries for us’.
“You’ll get people within organised crime groups monopolise on this, because they know people are going to need money.
“Already there’s been an increase in electricity theft – it’s up 13% (in 2021-22 on the previous year).
“In communities like mine, it only takes one to get away with it and there’s [people] saying: ‘Get on to this’.”
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‘I had to be the man of the house’
‘Police are going to have to prioritise’
Dr Hesketh said organised crime groups view the cost of living crisis as “an opportunity to get more manpower, more people involved in street crime and drug dealing, and those in charge keep their hands clean”.
“With the organised crime groups around my area, it’s very territorial,” he added.
“As people get desperate, and organised criminals get more greedy, then they’ll start overtaking other people’s turf…. obviously that becomes violent.
“Violence is part and parcel of organised crime… that’s how they thrive. Without violence, they’re nothing.”
Dr Hesketh said he believed the police “are going to have to prioritise”.
“Resources are short as it is, they’re going to focus mainly on more serious violent acts, I think,” he added.
Victims targeted ‘left, right and centre’
Victim Support said it had seen people targeted by scams around the government’s council tax rebate and an increase in people trying to take out “quick loans” through unregulated services.
Lisa Mills, the charity’s senior fraud manager, told Sky News: “People are in this hot state – they’re anxious about the cost of living – so they are taking more risks than they would normally.
“This scenario now is going to be weaponised by the fraudsters. We saw it with the pandemic.
“When people are feeling anxious and uncertain, their ability to rationalise and think about things is going to be compromised.
“What we have seen is people who are desperately in need of money are taking unnecessary risks by taking out loans online.
“We know people are going to be targeted left, right and centre.”
Ms Mills warned of a rise in “money muling” – when a criminal persuades someone to put “dirty” money into their account before the funds are then moved into another account.
“It’s in effect money laundering – it’s washing dirty money,” she said.
“We have seen instances where younger people are being promised free trainers if they accept money to then forward on.
“Your guard is down in this time of crisis and people will just be at the end of their tether thinking ‘I need a quick fix now’, and this is being offered to me and it sounds great.”
Ms Mills said that some unregulated loans may charge high interest rates or the loan may not even exist.
She said: “As soon as they pay money, a website gets taken down, you’ve lost your money – so the loan didn’t exist in the first place.
“It’s capturing people that way.”
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The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) has said forces have considered the impact of the cost of living crisis but denied reports it was preparing for a “tidal wave” of violent crime and public disorder.
An NPCC spokesman said: “Our ongoing priority remains prevention, and we continually work with communities to gather intelligence around crime and disorder.
“As a result, policing is able to regularly intervene early to prevent incidents or their escalation due to this community intelligence to keep the public safe.”
Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield has resigned from the Labour Party.
The 53-year-old MP is the first to jump ship since the general election and in her resignation letter criticised the prime minister for accepting thousands of pounds worth of gifts.
She told Sir Keir Starmer the reason for leaving now is “the programme of policies you seem determined to stick to”, despite their unpopularity with the electorate and MPs.
In her letter she accused the prime minister and his top team of “sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice” which are “off the scale”.
“I’m so ashamed of what you and your inner circle have done to tarnish and humiliate our once proud party,” she said.
Rosie Duffield. Pic: UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor/Handout via Reuters
Sir Keir has faced backlash after a Sky News report revealed he had received substantially more freebies than any other MP since becoming Labour leader.
Since December 2019, the prime minister received £107,145 in gifts, benefits, and hospitality – a specific category in parliament’s register of MPs’ interests.
Ms Duffield, who has previously clashed with the prime minister on gender issues, attacked the government for pursuing “cruel and unnecessary” policies as she resigned the Labour whip.
Read more:
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She criticised the decision to keep the two-child benefit cap and means-test the winter fuel payment, and accused the prime minister of “hypocrisy” over his acceptance of free gifts from donors.
“Since the change of government in July, the revelations of hypocrisy have been staggering and increasingly outrageous,” she said.
“I cannot put into words how angry I and my colleagues are at your total lack of understanding about how you have made us all appear.”
Ms Duffield also mentioned the recent “treatment of Diane Abbott”, who said she thought she had been barred from standing by Labour ahead of the general election, before Sir Keir said she would be allowed to defend her Hackney North and Stoke Newington seat for the party.
Her relationship with the Labour leadership has long been strained and her decision to quit the party comes after seven other Labour MPs were suspended for rebelling by voting for a motion calling for the two-child benefit cap to be abolished.
“Someone with far-above-average wealth choosing to keep the Conservatives’ two-child limit to benefit payments which entrenches children in poverty, while inexplicably accepting expensive personal gifts of designer suits and glasses costing more than most of those people can grasp – this is entirely undeserving of holding the title of Labour prime minister,” she said.
Ms Duffield said she will continue to represent her constituents as an independent MP, “guided by my core Labour values”.
UK
King Charles hails ‘uniquely special’ Scotland as it marks Holyrood milestone – before being hugged by woman
The King has paid tribute to Scotland as a “uniquely special place” for the Royal Family as he marked the 25th anniversary of the Scottish parliament.
At the ceremony to commemorate a quarter of a century since parliament opened at Holyrood, the King said: “Speaking from a personal perspective, Scotland has always had a uniquely special place in the hearts of my family and myself.
“My beloved grandmother was proudly Scottish, my late mother especially treasured the time spent at Balmoral, and it was there in the most beloved of places, where she chose to spend her final days.”
He said we are all “united by our love of Scotland”, paying tribute to its “natural beauty”, “strength of character”, “diversity of its people”, “passions and frequently deeply held beliefs”.
“From the central belt to the north Highlands, across the islands in Ayrshire, in the Borders, the cities, towns and villages, all the coastal communities, who I wonder, could not fail to be moved by this complex Caledonian kaleidoscope?,” he asked as presiding officer Alison Johnstone and the Queen sat beside him.
After he gave the speech, the King was hugged by a member of the public – who said she did so “because of him being unwell”.
The 75-year-old was diagnosed with cancer in February but has since returned to public duties.
Yvonne Macmillan, 59, from East Renfrewshire, attended the anniversary ceremony with her husband Russell who is registered blind and chosen as a “local hero” for work in their area.
“I asked him if he was feeling better and if I could give him a hug. I actually said to him: ‘Can I hug you?’,” she said.
“As I hugged him I said, ‘God bless you’, so it was like God giving him a hug.”
The King listens to the presiding officer of the Scottish parliament at Holyrood. Pic: PA
The Queen sits alongside the King as he makes his speech on Saturday. Pic: PA
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While Sir Tony Blair’s Labour government legislated for Scottish devolution in 1997 – parliament officially opened at Holyrood on 1 July 1999.
The King has made six visits to the parliament since 1999 – while his mother Queen Elizabeth II made 10 visits during her lifetime.
The King arrives at the Scottish parliament on Saturday. Pic: PA
Scottish First Minister John Swinney is one of a number of MSPs who have been at Holyrood since the start of devolution.
He said in his own speech in Edinburgh on Saturday that the parliament has “placed itself at the very heart of the nation”, describing it as a “vessel of enlightenment, invention and creativity”.
The King shakes hands with First Minister John Swinney in Edinburgh on Saturday. Pic: PA
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The SNP’s Christine Grahame is another MSP who has been there since the start.
“Free tuition, free prescriptions, game-changing policies to tackle child poverty, the ban on smoking, the baby box, ScotRail back in public ownership – none of this would have been possible without the Scottish parliament and the strength of our commitment to self-determination,” she said on Saturday.
The King said the devolved parliament has the ability to “touch and to improve the lives of so many individuals”.
Former first ministers Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf take a selfie as they wait for the King. Pic: PA
But he added that “there remains much more to be done” for Scotland, the rest of the UK, particularly with regards to climate change.
“Let this moment therefore be the beginning of the next chapter,” he told those assembled.
“The achievement of the past and the commitment shown in the present give us the soundest basis for confidence in the future.”
A moped riding phone thief was caught red-handed after police tracked the device down hours after he snatched it from a woman’s hand.
CCTV footage released by police showed a masked moped rider mount the pavement in Croydon, south London, to swipe a phone from a woman’s hand on 6 March, while another victim had theirs stolen while they waited for a bus an hour later.
Amari Scott, 20, looked surprised when confronted by officers inside a shop, where he was found with two mobile phones.
Amari Scott was caught red-handed. Pic: Met Police
“We’ve just had a moped rob a mobile phone off the pavement and the phone is pinging in this location,” one of the officers told him in body-worn camera footage before Scott was handcuffed and led away.
Police also recovered a stolen motorbike and Scott, from Sutton, south London, was later jailed for four years.
Two teenagers who committed four robberies in the space of just half an hour were also arrested as part of a crackdown in Croydon.
Aged 16 and 17, the teens were issued with referral orders after pleading guilty to charges of robbery, attempted robbery and attempted grievous bodily harm.
Amari Scott was jailed for four years. Pic: Met Police
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They were behind a spree of eight robberies across Croydon and nearby Bromley, including four within 30 minutes on the morning of 5 August.
Their crimes, which included the knife point robbery of a rough sleeper outside Croydon library, were caught on CCTV.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
One of the teenagers tried to discard a knife before she was arrested after a foot chase, telling officers: “The knife wasn’t mine”.
The other ran away, leaving a knife and his bag, but was lying in bed at home when he was arrested shortly after.
Two teenagers committed four robberies in 30 minutes. Pic: Met Police
The Metropolitan Police said officers are intensifying efforts to tackle robbery and theft, encouraging victims to report incidents as they happen to increase the chances of catching the criminals.
Chief Inspector James Weston said: “We understand the impact that robbery has on victims – it is invasive and frightening.
“That’s why our teams are working so hard to deter and catch offenders to reassure our local community.
“Thanks to the hard work of officers, our partners and community grassroots organisations, we are stepping up our efforts and tackling the issues that matter most to the people of Croydon.”
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