RURAL crime in Worcestershire has dropped by an above average amount as the pandemic has kept thieves out of the countryside.

The overall cost of rural theft in the county dropped by 41%, to £476,000k in 2020 according to rural insurer, NFU Mutual.

The midlands region saw the greatest decrease of any UK region however the area continues to have the highest costs of theft - at £43.3m.

Rebecca Davidson, Rural Affairs Specialist at NFU Mutual, said: “Coronavirus restrictions, beefed-up security on farms and more rural policing provided a welcome fall in rural thefts last year.

“While lockdown may have locked some criminals out of the countryside – rural crime hasn’t gone away. Thieves are now returning armed with new tactics and targets.

"As the economic impact of the pandemic bites, we are very concerned that rural theft may escalate significantly.

“Organised criminal gangs also continued to target farmyards for high-value GPS systems, quad bikes and tractors with the UK cost of agricultural vehicle theft remaining at over £9 million.”

UK-wide the cost of claims for GPS systems doubled to £2.9m while dog attacks and flytipping rose by 10% to £1.3m.

However Mick Simpson, rural and business crimes officer for South Worcestershire, has said that the situation locally is not as bad.

He said: “The NFU reports an increase in tractor Global Positioning Systems (GPS) nationally although we are not experiencing this locally.

“We’re pleased to see that rural crime figures in South Worcestershire reduced by 19.5% (during the 12 months up to October 2020).

“Through funding from the Police and Crime Commissioner, our rural and business crime reduction officers have visited their local farmers and completed a security survey of their farms and provided Smartwater to mark their property and warning signage.

“In South Worcester we have now completed over 100 farms and we have worked in partnership with the NFU to provide ‘Awareness’ days at farms in various areas of South Worcestershire. We are keen to visit more farms to provide this service.”

NFU Mutual has pledged £430,000 to help combat any possible increase in ‘rural raiders.’