Farmed robbery: gangs target high-end rural produce shops

Police have warned that a sophisticated gang of thieves are ploughing a new furrow, stealing cash from farm shops that sell upmarket groceries.

Their faces hidden by ski snoods, the thieves arrived in the dead of night and crawled commando-style along the floor to avoid triggering the alarm system on yet another lucrative heist.

First, the trio had to steer their way around the steak pies, sausage rolls, cupcakes and Bakewell tarts — because the new target for thieves is not banks, but luxury farm shops, according to police.

Denstone Hall Farm Shop is one of seven farm shops in Staffordshire, Cheshire, North Wales and West Yorkshire to have been hit by an organised crime gang in the past four weeks.