CUMBRIA is counting the cost of organised gangs targeting the county during the Covid-19 pandemic.

While coronavirus restrictions kept some criminals out of the countryside, Cumbria was hard hit last year as the cost of rural theft rose to an estimated £1,019,620 – up 28 per cent from 2019, according to figures released by leading rural insurer, NFU Mutual, in their Rural Crime Report.

Cumbria’s sharp rise is in contrast to a 20.3 per cent fall nationally, as rural theft cost the UK an estimated £43.3m in 2020.

Rustlers took advantage of remote locations in Cumbria’s countryside and stole livestock worth an estimated £230,000 in 2020, which amounted to an eight per cent rise. The rest of the UK saw a 25 per cent fall in the cost of livestock theft.

Organised gangs also got more ‘bang for their buck’ as they turned their focus onto smaller, higher-value targets including farming Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and quad bikes. Other rural crimes, including dog attacks on livestock and fly-tipping, rose sharply across the UK.

The value of sheep and cattle attacked by dogs shot up by 10 per cent in 2020 to £1.3m in a year which saw a surge in pet ownership and countryside visits.