Police, Arrests & Suspects by John Donoghue

Author:John Donoghue
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781785894121
Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd

Chapter 10

Dead Cow Walking

We left a trail of footprints in the grass, still wet with dew, as we strolled through the meadow on an idyllic summer morning. Specks of colour punctuated the lush green canvas: bright-blue cornflowers, shimmering yellow buttercups and large, brilliant-white daisies with their giant heads that seemed to follow the sun as it climbed in the sky. Elsewhere, the wild Flanders poppies danced in the gentle breeze; their delicate red petals quivering with the slightest breath of wind. We chatted about anything and everything as we walked, our carefree laughter carrying in the air, alerting the rabbits to our impending approach; their tails rising and falling as they hopped away into the distance where the green field met the blue sky.

The sun played on our backs, its rays warming our necks, while the birds in the hedgerows provided the score to this perfect day. The fresh country air completed the feast for our senses. On approaching the opening to the next field, I glanced over at my companion and our eyes met. As I slowly placed my hand on top of the gate her hand gently came to rest on top of mine. Involuntarily, she let out the faintest of sighs. I quickly recoiled my arm in horror.

“Don’t get any funny ideas, you nutter!”

“It was an accident!” she replied indignantly, and then pursed her lips to make her mouth resemble a cat’s bum.

“I’m old enough to be your dad’s younger, good-looking friend,” I told her. “And anyway, we’re on a job!” Now that the ground rules had been re-established, we continued on our way in an awkward silence. This wasn’t some aimless ramble in the countryside – we had serious business to attend to: we were here to fight crime.

The cost of crime to Britain’s rural economy is around £50 million per year. Isolated farms and homes are particularly vulnerable to organised gangs. High-value farm machinery is often targeted and smuggled out of the country to developing nations. Pesticides are also high on thieves’ shopping lists. Illegal waste sites and fly-tipping, as well as arson and criminal damage to fences and crops, are all major issues, too. Poaching is yet another big problem, but the activity that has seen the biggest increase by far is theft of livestock. The nature of modern farming makes this a difficult problem to combat as animals are often grazed in fields far from the farmstead. It is not uncommon for police to hold identification parades in order for farmers to identify their own sheep from a group that has been recovered. One farmer even took to dying his flock bright yellow to deter would-be rustlers. Today, however, we were on the hunt for cows – but not just any old cows – Jessica and I were looking for ghost cows!

Most people are familiar with the concept of car-ringing or car-clocking, where criminals switch details or wind back the milometer so, effectively, you don’t get the car you thought you were buying. Cow-ringing or cow-clocking is exactly the same thing – but with cows.

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