Leicestershire police have mounted a hunt for an arsonist after nearly 1800 tonnes of straw and hay have been destroyed in three barn fires within as many weeks.

Two tractors and a combine harvester were wiped out in the latest blaze, together with 450t of straw and hay, in the latest attack at Wharf Farm, in the village of Shackerstone.

Workers at the isolated farm believe it must have been started deliberately because there was no electricity on site and neither of the two machines had been running recently.

It is also half-a-mile from any other building. Fifty fire-fighters tackled the fire for six hours and had to pump water from a river a quarter of a mile away.

The blaze followed a fire at Fulmoore Farm, Cosby, which destroyed a Dutch barn and 1000t of straw, causing £20,000 of damage.

Five days earlier, 300t of hay was torched at the nearby Warren Farm, in Enderby village.

Fire chiefs have confirmed that both of those incidents were started deliberately.

The latest fire is under investigation, but arson “was the likely cause”, said a fire service spokesman.