Farm worker steals tractor from former employer

An ex-farm worker has been found guilty of stealing a tractor from his previous employers.

Benjamin Williamson, 21, was jailed for 12 months for a string of rural thefts, including the tractor and a Land Rover.

Mr Williamson took the tractor key from the farm in Crow Lane, Norfolk, where he had been made redundant, before returning and stealing the tractor.

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He shook off police in two separate pursuits, both in stolen Land Rovers, before he stole the tractor.

In early December 2012, Mr Williamson stole a blue Land Rover from a farm in north Norfolk and was spotted by police a month later displaying false number plates, according to the Eastern Daily Press newspaper. It failed to stop, and turned up two days later abandoned outside an Iceland supermarket in Swaffham Market Place, with Mr Williamson’s redundancy letter inside the vehicle.

The vehicle had also contained almost £2,000 of items when it was stolen, including an air rifle and a chainsaw, which have not been recovered.

In a separate incident, Mr Williamson stole a trailer from a Wymondham farm in late January 2013.

He was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £80.