Wasperton farmer makes appeal after sheep stolen and killed

Oliver Johnson, of Johnson's Farm off Wellesbourne Road, disturbed a gang of men who had trespassed onto the farm on Saturday.

They made off in a van

He checked CCTV of the incident and saw that they had beaten and stolen a heavily pregnant ewe which was due to lamb and had been electronically tagged for identification.

Mr Johnson and his wife Charlotte shared the video of the CCTV and details of the incident on their farm's Facebook page.

And on Sunday they received a call from a woman in Coventry who had seen the social media post and told them that the remains of animals had been dumped in a housing estate in the city.

And when Mr Johnson drove out to check the remains he found that it was those of the ewe and two lambs.

Charlotte said: "The Facebook post has drawn so much attention with other farmers contacting us to say they have been the victims of similar crimes.

"We had lambs going missing all last year and during the summer it seemed to be at a rate of one each week.

"The difference this time is that we caught the thieves on CCTV but there has been a massive increase in these sort of incidents in general.

"Rural crime is on the rise and we know we're bot a priority but this is our home and while we can have CCTV and dogs to guard the property there is nothing else to deter these people and no consequences for them.

The Johnsons have spoken to Warwickshire Police who are investigating the incident and have also contacted trading standards in case the meat can be traced to a butcher near where the remains were found.

Charlotte said: "By the time any action was taken the meat would probably have been sold and eaten."

Anyone with information about the incident can call police on 101.