POLICE are warning farmers to be on their guard after thousands of pounds worth of tractor and tanker equipment was stolen from three rural villages.

Thieves struck at farms in Rushton, Darnhall and Tattenhall over a six-day period, with about £45,000 worth of equipment stolen.

PC David Walton described the thieves as ‘brazen’ and believes all three incidents are linked.

The first robbery involved a red BvL V-Mix tractor worth £25,000 taken from a farm run by Phil Hodgson with his brother Rob in Oxheys Lane, Rushton, between 10.30pm on Sunday, June 17 and 5.30am the following day.

The next took place at about 3.30am on Tuesday, June 19, when a slurry tanker was stolen from a farm in Darnhall.

The offenders attached the tanker to a red Massey Ferguson tractor and were followed by the owner before ditching it and fleeing toward Tarporley on the A51.

Finally, between 9.03pm on Thursday, June 21 and 5.30am the following day, two tractors and a tanker were stolen from a farm in Aldersey Lane, Tattenhall.

Case International 4230XL and 895 tractors were taken along with and a 1,250 gallon slurry tanker – all valued at about £20,000.

According to Cheshire police a silver Skoda Octavia had been seen in the lane the previous night and could be linked to the thefts.

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