Farmer turns detective to trace stolen vintage tractor

Suffolk farmhand Spencer Campbell found himself playing accidental detective after his beloved vintage tractor mysteriously vanished from a friend’s farm in Battisford.

Mr Campbell, 21, had left the 1946 Grey Ferguson TE20 in a shed on Friday, 5 December, to keep it out of the rain.

But when he returned a few days later, on 10 December, it was gone.

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He spent two or three hours scouring Battisford and then saw the telltale narrow tyre marks.

“I noticed in the muddy yard some small, fine tractor prints, and it could only be my Fergie, so I started tracking them,” Mr Campbell said.

The trail led him towards an old straw stack. “I walked all of the way around the stack, and I spied it hidden inside, stashed between the bales”, he said.

© Spencer Campbell

Theft prevention trick

His anti-theft trick had worked. “I had previously drained the tractor to deter any thieves.

“From the tracks in the yard, it looked like they had driven it for a few minutes, doing doughnuts, then hid it between the bales. I imagine they had been driving it until it stalled.”

The mud that led up to the hay bales showed signs of slippery boot prints, “as if they had been slipping around while trying to push it”.

Mr Campbell believes the thieves may have been following a common trick – move the machinery, hide it for a few days to check for trackers, then return to collect it.

Determined not to give them the chance, he and a friend climbed on top of hay bales that same night and camped out, waiting “to see if they would come back. And if they did, we would have called the police”.

Mr Campbell joked: “If being a detective pays more than farming, then I would consider it.”

Charity run planned

He’d only bought the tractor in August and was planning to take it on a charity tractor rally he’d been organising later this month.

Now with Fergie recovered and safely tucked away, Mr Campbell confirmed his charity tractor rally is going ahead as planned.

“I was planning to run a tractor rally on the weekend; thankfully, I can now,” he said.

The rally takes place on Sunday 21 December, meeting at 8.30am and departing at 10.15am from Garnhams Needham Market.

The route will head through Needham Market, Barking, Battisford, Combs Ford, Stowmarket, and Stowupland. Vintage cars are also welcome.

Entry is a £10 donation per tractor, with all proceeds going to Parkinson’s UK. To take part or volunteer as a steward, email spencersfarming@gmail.com.

To make a donation to Mr Campbell’s Just Giving page in aid of Parkinson’s UK, visit his JustGiving page.