Worry 'people will take law into their own hands' over 'worst rural crime in living memory'
Rural crime has got so bad that there is now a “real worry” that people will begin to take the law into their own hands, a Shropshire farmer has said.
The farmer, who doesn't want to be named, said his family have been farming their land near Bridgnorth since 1956, but he said that organised criminals are making the lives of the rural community in the area a misery.
“It is pure theft. They target machinery, quads, trailers – there's been a couple of tractors go recently – it is high value items. It is organised and big. According to the police, there have been between £5 million and £10 million worth of stuff stolen from the region in the last 12 to 18 months.”
The farmer is part of a Whatsapp social media group of around 120 farmers and rural hands in Bridgnorth that report suspicious activity to one another, as well as pass on information to the police.
A similar group exists in south Shropshire, as frustrated farmers do everything they can to stop thieves in their tracks.
“We started the Whatsapp group around five years ago,” he said. “But in the last 18 months it has really come into its own. If people in the group spot a suspicious vehicle or some machinery being moved, they will take a picture and share it with the group, and we then pass it on to the police.”
