A 'cynical' and 'predatory' man has been ordered to pay back more than £130,000 from earnings he made from sheep rustling.
The man, named Phillip Raine from the Bowes area of County Durham, has been ordered by Teesside Crown Court to pay the full amount of his stolen earnings.
Mr Raine and his uncle were labelled “parasites” by police after being convicted of conspiring to use criminal property in December last year. They were subsequently jailed for three years each.
The thieves stole 116 sheep worth almost £25,000 from 14 different hill farmers in three different countries, Cumbria, Durham and North Yorkshire, between 2010 and 2013, according to the Northern Echo.
Durham Police managed to retrieve the stolen sheep with their rightful owners, but the police believe there could be a great deal many more stolen sheep unaccounted for.
Mr Raine also masked the sheeps' markings used to identify the animals.
The prosecution said the thefts, traced to farms owned by Phillip and Charles Raine, was “deliberate, organised and orchestrated”.
Judge Tony Briggs said it had been an “attack on people’s hard work” and was “utterly inexcusable”.
He told Phillip Raine, who farmed at Hazel Gill, near Bowes, that he had showed a “cynical and predatory” attitude towards his neighbours.
