Farmer identified his rustled cows out of herd of hundreds

GREAT POLICE WORK HAD TRACKED 14 BEASTS STOLEN FROM ANGLESEY TO ENGLISH FARM

- By STEVE BAGNALL

CATTLE rustlers drove from England in convoy along the A55 to a remote farm on Anglesey to steal cows, a court heard yesterday.

Their actions were blasted as a “disgrace” to the farming community, by Judge Nicola Jones, who sentenced the five at Caernarfon Crown Court.

The cows were stolen from a shed at a small farm on the outskirts of Llanerchymedd, over the night of December 10, 2022, and transported in “horrible” conditions in a box on the back of a lorry, the court heard.

Yesterday Stanley Jones, 27, of Pentre Broughton, Wrexham; Michael McLeod, 57, of Llay, Wrexham; Jack Billington, 23, of Llyndir Lane, Burton, Rossett; and Liam Kettleborough, 30, of Coventry Road, Rugby, were sentenced, after admitting conspiring to commit a burglary other than a dwelling with intent to steal.

Clifford Smith, 65, of Bank Farm, Woore, Crewe was also sentenced after he admitted a separate charge of handling stolen goods.

The court heard the farmers had checked on the cows the night before, but discovered the theft the next morning, when they found cows on the road, a gate off its hinges and the shed open.

They had 80 cows, the court heard, but it was discovered 14 were missing. It was thought the gate had been used to corral the cattle onto a lorry trailer, said Paulinus Barnes, who was prosecuting.

But thanks to great police work, particularly by that of PC Michelle Allsop, they were traced using evidence including CCTV and traffic cameras, to a farm in Stoke on Trent, said Mr Barnes.

An appeal for information was launched and the lorry was identified as being near to farms in the Stoke on Trent area. Arrests were made later and phones seized which showed communications between some of the defendants.