A farm shed in Tintagel storing a trailer and straw is believed to have been deliberately set on fire.

Both men admitted offences relating to running a waste site at their former home at The Paddocks on St Stephen’s Road in Sticker, without a permit.

An Okehampton outdoor school is appealing to vandals who have caused thousands of pounds worth of damage to their site to stop immediately and set their actions right.

Police have reported that, while the driver managed to free themself, they suffered "nasty injuries".

Police are appealing for information about a man and a "suspicious" van after a generator was stolen from a farm shed in Mid Devon last month.

"Over recent weeks there has been an increase in the theft of agricultural precision guidance systems. Often fitted to tractors and agricultural machinery these devices are frequently stolen due to their high value and portability."

The team is encouraging equipment users where possible to remove items when not in use and consider property marking options. Most recently incidents have occurred in the West, Mid and East Devon areas.

Farmers in the South West have been told to be vigilant and report any suspicious activity to the police following a sharp rise in quad bikes.

As rising inflation sent fuel prices spiralling, a rural insurer's figures show that theft of oil, diesel and other fuels from homeowners doubled last year.

One such theft was experienced by a retired farmer's wife near Plymouth, Jean Piper.

Thieves emptied Jean's heating oil tank of £2,000 worth of fuel just three weeks after she had filled it.

She said: “It’s a lot of money to pay out again, but more than that it really shook me up to think someone had come onto my property.

“I still feel very nervous about it now, as well as it being a lot of money to lose.”

Jean knew something was wrong when she went to make a meal and her Rayburn cooker didn’t work.

She then realised that the heating wouldn’t switch on either and rang an engineer, assuming there was a fault somewhere.

“The heating engineer said it’s no wonder it’s not working you haven’t got any oil, but I told him that wasn’t possible, as I had not long had it filled,” said Jean.

In one case, thieves stole a pensioner’s entire supply at her home three weeks after she had filled up at a cost of £2,000.

Police were called by Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service to the building in Brent Road, East Brent and an investigation has been launched to establish the cause.

'Farmers should not place cattle with calves in fields where members of the public have a legal right to walk'

They were walking along a public footpath through a field holding cows with calves when one of the cows attacked, leaving Steve badly injured. He spent seven days in intensive care.

A tractor caused a barn to catch fire on a farm in east Cornwall last night (Wednesday).

The lives of more than 300 sheep were put at risk and a person had to go to hospital after a barn caught fire near Kingsbridge on Monday (March 6).