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Criminal damage charges over Paddington statue

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Two men have been charged after a Paddington Bear statue was damaged and taken from a bench.

The front of the sculpture was cut away and removed from its seat in Northbrook Street, Newbury, Berkshire at about 02:00 GMT on Sunday, according to Thames Valley Police. It was later recovered.

Daniel Heath, 22, from Thornton, West Yorkshire, and William Lawrence, 22 from Enderby, Leicestershire, were both charged with one count of criminal damage.

Both men have been released on conditional bail to appear at Reading Magistrates' Court on 25 March.

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The statue of the Peruvian bear, holding a marmalade sandwich, was unveiled in the town in October.

Newbury was the home town of Paddington creator Michael Bond.

Newbury Business Improvement District (BID) brought the statue to Newbury, in partnership with StudioCanal, as part of its national Paddington Visits trail.

It was one of 23 models celebrating the children's character placed across the UK last year ahead of the launch of the film Paddington in Peru.

Thames Valley Police said the statue was due to be handed back to the owners for its restoration.

'I've lost 4,500 sheep to thieves on Dartmoor'

"It's beginning to feel like the Wild West up here when it comes to sheep crime - it's soul-destroying," says farmer Colin Abel, scanning his flock high up on west Dartmoor farmland.

This winter - like most years - Mr Abel is missing more than 400 ewes.  He says in the last decade he has lost nearly £500,000 worth of livestock to sheep rustling, which is pushing some farmers to the brink of quitting or bringing their flocks off the moors.

Devon and Cornwall Police says livestock theft is challenging to police but its officers are "pursuing every line of inquiry" through "forensics, surveillance, tracking and more".

Sheep have grazed on Dartmoor in Devon for centuries but roaming free, they are hard to keep an eye on and the national park is among the five worst areas in the country for sheep rustling.

Mr Abel's family has run Lower Godsworthy Farm in Tavistock since 1888.  He estimates more than 4,500 sheep have gone missing in the last decade and with each ewe worth roughly £120, that is more than £500,000 worth of livestock, he says.

His hardy upland flock of Scotch Blackface and Welsh mountain sheep spend nine-and-a-half months of the year on the moor, where they are most vulnerable to theft.  "It impacts financially and on the viability of the business," he says. "I know farmers who are thinking about whether they want to continue."

There have been no prosecutions for sheep theft in the last five years for Devon and Cornwall.

The challenge is complicated by the suspected involvement of people from the farming industry, says PC Julian Fry from Devon and Cornwall Police's Rural Affairs Team.  "The tragedy of this situation is that to steal livestock you have to know livestock and have the networks to shift them on."

PC Fry, who grew up on the edge of Dartmoor and knows the farming community well, says despite the challenges, officers are working with abattoirs, commoners and farmers to build intelligence and employ "lots of tactical options".  "Any report of livestock theft we take seriously, investigate and pursue all lines of inquiry," he adds. "We hope to make this crime a thing of the past."

Rural insurer NFU Mutual estimates livestock theft cost £2.7m in 2023, although Mr Abel says he quit reporting his losses to avoid higher premiums.

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