Farmer in village near Northampton reveals on TV what it was like to be victim of 'devastating' sheep killings

A farmer in a village near Northampton has revealed what it was like to be victim of a 'devastating' string of sheep killings that plagued the county.

In a four-month spree in 2019, hundreds of sheep across the county were illegally butchered in their fields for their meat in overnight attacks.

Harpole farmer Patrick Green, who was a victim of the attacks, has featured on Dave’s TV program Special Ops: Crime Squad UK, which is currently available to watch here.

Patrick told the programme: "We were woken up at 3am by a police officer and they started to explain what they had seen, which sounded horrific.

"As it got lighter, I went to have a look to see what the damage was.

"The gate was laying on the floor, the gate post was broken and I looked across the field and all you could see was the remains of 26 lambs.

"Some parts [of the lambs] were hanging on the gates, some parts were spread all across the field. The heads and things like that were in the ditch nearby.

"All that was important to them was making the small amount of money they were going to get from 26 lambs."

By August 2019, 10 farms across Northants had been victim of the barbaric butchering.

Police, who named their investigation Operation Stock, revealed how they investigated the the vile string of offences.

DCI Johnny Campbell said: "Who are we looking for? And where do we focus our attention? If we're going to be looking at ANPR data, what kind of vehicle are we looking for?

"The longer it goes on, the more nervous you become that you're never going to find the people responsible and this is something that is just going to carry on and carry on and the pressure is never going to ease up."

Despite the investigation, the slaughtering continued through the summer.

Sergeant Sam Dobbs of Northants Police told the program: "We had more offences, more outrage. The police and crime commissioner said to me, 'we cannot let this get out of hand. Whatever you need, let's try and grip this'.

"The community were angry about it. The farmers were contacting the police and saying, 'we've got an issue here and we need your help'."

Police started to use drones as a way to discretely monitor large fields.

DCI Campbell said: "Response teams now have access to drones, and that's something you won't know. A drone is a few hundred feet above you and they're so small and so quiet - in the dead of night they are a really good tool for us."

Despite the escalated operations, the drones couldn't cover enough ground and the crimes continued.

Northants Police boss Nick Adderley told the program: "I think the surprising element of it was how brazen the offenders were. The fact that they were travelling some distance into the county, slaughtering the animals in the field.

"The devastation they left behind is almost unspeakable.

"Also [we knew] they would keep coming back...that's helpful for the police because you know they are going to make a mistake and trip up.

"We had one occasion where we were minutes away from catching them in the act. We missed them on this occasion, what could we have done better? It's about continually learning, continually tweaking."

And then, one evening in October, a vehicle of interest entered the county and police swooped in.

DCI Campbell said: "Three people ran from the van, two were arrested immediately following a quick foot chase and, unfortunately, one of them disappeared into the night.

"All three made a full and frank admission on interview. I wouldn't say they were remorseful, but they were honest in as much as they told us why they were there and what they were doing."

Sergeant Dobbs added: Justice was done. Justice was seen to be done. And, probably, when I look back over 30 years of policing, Operation Stock for me will be one of those operation I'm never going to forget."

On March 27, 2020 three men - Robert Iordan, 23, Florin Nutu, 35 and Voirel Manu, 38 - were jailed for the conspiracy to slaughter nearly 120 sheep.

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