OXFORDSHIRE — Eleven sheep have been stolen from Diddly Squat Farm, the Oxfordshire property owned by presenter Jeremy Clarkson, according to Thames Valley Police.
Officers said they received reports on Wednesday that the animals had been taken from the farm in Chadlington at some point within the previous 10 days. Police later met Clarkson at the scene on Thursday.
No arrests have been made, and the force has asked anyone with information to come forward.
Clarkson, 66, said he noticed the loss when he went to count the flock with his Clarkson’s Farm co-star Kaleb Cooper. He urged whoever took the sheep to “put them back”.
Clarkson says he discovered the missing flock while checking numbers with Kaleb Cooper
The former Top Gear and The Grand Tour presenter said he first realised something was wrong when he was counting the animals with Cooper.
He told The Sun that he believed the stolen sheep would be worth more than £2,000 at market. He also said he was worried other sheep in separate fields on the farm may have gone missing too.
Clarkson’s comments suggest the theft may have involved more than one area of the 1,000-acre site, although police have not confirmed whether any further animals are unaccounted for.
The farm has become widely known through the Amazon Prime Video series Clarkson’s Farm, which follows Clarkson’s attempts to run the land and livestock in Oxfordshire.
Police say the sheep were taken in the past 10 days and no arrests have been made
Thames Valley Police said the reports were made on Wednesday, but the theft is believed to have happened at some point in the previous 10 days. The force has not said how the sheep were removed from the farm.
Officers spoke with Clarkson at Diddly Squat Farm on Thursday as part of their enquiries. Police have not identified any suspects and have not said whether they are treating the theft as linked to the television series or the farm’s profile.
Livestock theft can be difficult to prevent on large rural properties, and Clarkson said Diddly Squat Farm’s size makes it possible for someone to move around without being noticed.
Anyone with information has been asked to contact Thames Valley Police.
Farm’s television profile has raised questions about whether it may attract unwanted attention
Clarkson told The Sun that filming activity around the farm may have made the site harder to target, but also said a high-profile operation could be “more likely to make you a target than less”.
He said the theft appeared to have happened at night or during a time when the farm was not being filmed, adding that there was often “a film crew here all the time” and “a drone in the air”.
Despite that visibility, he said he did not think the sheep were stolen simply because they were on Diddly Squat Farm. Instead, he pointed to the difficulty of protecting livestock on such a large holding.
The incident has drawn attention because the farm is already familiar to television viewers, but police say their immediate focus is on finding out what happened and whether any of the missing animals can be recovered.
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