stolen!

Good news, hope they get what they deserve...

Knowing the justice system today a slap on the wrist and a compensation claim for the mental stress caused by their arrest!!

Shetan - sorry to hear about your hens - hopefully they have caught the ones responsible and although it's unlikely you'll get your birds back, hopefully it will stop some other poor person having to go through the same.
On the subject of barbed wire - I have put that all around my back garden and then trailed "Mile a Minute" Clematis over it - it has completely hidden the barbed wire in two seasons and the little b******ds get quite a shock if they try and use it to climb over! If you do intend to try Clematis, place it where your chooks can't get at the green shoots as it can be poisonous if eaten in quantity, but your hens will probably pick that up by instinct cos' they are clever souls.

Keeping our fingers crossed for you. 

just to update you.

had a call from the police last night. turns out our hunch was right. one of the men is related to the woman who comes to cut next door's grass but there isn't enough evidence to do anything about her. we can only make a formal complaint to the council and request she is reallocated - although i think she should face dismissal.

they checked both the men's properties and found feathers at one, that they described as brown with white spots - my sussex i presume but no sign of the jerseys. the men won't admit to taking them so won't say where they've gone. everything is circumstantial i guess - they've said they brought meat birds from market and gutted them themselves.

we can't really get any justice but i've just spoken to the manager and as the allotment thinks very highly of us they will be trying to have them prosecuted for trespassing. i mentioned everyone's suggestions from here and i think a couple of the chaps want to donate some trailing plants if we decide to go down the barbed wire route. we'll need to do something as its next door's gate which seems to be the weak point in our security.

i think they'd have taken our giant conti too if they'd had the chance.

just wanted to say thanks to you all for your support. its sad that we live in times where the excuse 'we are hard done by and can't afford anything' is a good enough excuse to make justice feel sorry for these types of people while we are left worse off and are probably just as hard done by.

Glad you have some sort of closure or at least some light at the end of the tunnel.

As much as I hate people that steal anything I feel that it should be pointed out that whilst the use of barbed wire and other methods of preventing access to your property (e.g. nails or broken glass embedded in a wall etc) is not outright illegal you do have a duty of care towards others, including tresspassers and if you don't tell people that you are using barbed wire or any other method to discourage intruders then YOU could be the one in court not the trespasser.  If you do choose to use this method you must make sure that you put up a sign to tell people, and you must keep that sign readable.

You also need to know that as part of the 1980 Highways act you can be ordered to remove it if it causes a nuissance to the general public if the fence or wall adjoins a public highway, and this could include the risk that someone could hurt themselves on it if they were just walking past and tripped on something else.

I don't want to rain on your parade because after several break ins and thefts from the allotments I too think that hanging is too good for the b******ds but you don't want to become the one in the wrong here.

I believe you can get a free half hour consultation with a solicitor.

Also had a thought, surely the poultry auction keeps records of sales with the movement of livestock I am sure they would have to.  If the thieves said they bought chickens from an auction there should be a record.  If there isn't it should help your case.  Even if they did buy some chickens, the records would have to show a similar breed to the feathers found.  The auction should aso be able to tell you what breeds were sold on the auction date the thieves said they bought theirs.  The more ammunition you get the better case you will have.

You should be able to get compensation for your loss from the council as they have been negligent in letting the employee back after your first complaint.

Wishing you luck and I hope the thieves and their accomplice get what they deserve.

I would just like to join in in wishing you all the luck in the world in sorting these issues out

Same here!!

It's a strange council that is quite happy to employ thieves. It's obvious that they know what she's up to and still they keep her on to steal from the very people who pay their extortionate  council tax.

Rant over, I'm so glad that you and the allotment people managed to catch them despite the police.