'It is devastating': UK farmers despair as sheep thefts soar

Animals worth 3m were stolen from Britain's farms in 2019, but farmers are fighting back

Sheep farmer Mark Candy did not realise at first that he had been targeted by rustlers. His Romney ewes graze among trees and rough ground on a Wiltshire country estate, and it was not obvious at first that some were missing.

"Then I sensed that something wasn't quite right," said Candy, whose family have farmed in the area for five generations. "I did a rough count and it became clear many of them had gone."