IMPORTANT PLEASE READ - From Sussex Horsewatch

[GREYSMEADOW]

I have been given permission to post this.....

At approximately 00:30am Sunday 04/09/2011 two men where disturbed trying to steal an Ifor Williams 510 trailer from a field off a main road in Hurstpierpoint, West Sussex, they were caught in the act by the owner and a friend, they also had headcollars hooked over their shoulders, once disturbed they ran like bullets from a gun over one of the adjoining fields where they were being waited for by a third man driving what seemed like a black/silver warrior vehicle, but this could have been burgundy/silver, the owner is unsure as it was dark and all happened very quickly, the get away vehicle was running its engine in wait for these men, located in a good position for a quick get away or to reverse and hook trailer up to. The owner convinced if they had managed to get through the security lock on the trailer (which they had a good try, as it has its all bent up etc) they would have used their head collars they had with them to load some of the horses up and take those. The owner is keen that Sussex Horewatch pass this message out so everyone can be made aware and keep an extra close eye on their horses/trailers in the area, the police attended and the crime ref is 67-4/9/11. These men meant business and definitely knew what they were doing!

This is not the first time this property has been targeted, the only reason the land owner managed to chase the intruders off was that he has taken to sleeping on the premises.

 

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This is not the first time this property has been targeted, the only reason the land owner managed to chase the intruders off was that he has taken to sleeping on the premises.

OMG that's dreadful. My friend was sleeping in her field in her caravan where she had been for the last twenty years or so and someone bolt cutted her five bar gate, drove into her little yard, took her wheelclamp off her trailer and hitched up and proceeded to drive off. By this time she'd been alerted to what was happening by her dog who was in the caravan with her (only about 30 foot away from the trailer). She had been using the 'stilts' on her trailer the day before to stop the trailer bouncing when loading her youngster for 'trailer training' and the stilts were still down. She jumped up in her nightshirt and put her slippers on, grabbed her mobile and raced out to her car by which time the thieves had made off. The stilts from the trailer dug into the road surface and there were sparks flying off in all directions. She dialed 999 and told the police she was trying to follow her stolen trailer, but unfortunately she got to a cross roads and couldn't see which direction the trailer had gone in, and the stilts from the trailer by this time had stopped leaving an indentation in the road. She said the noise of the stilts from the trailer scratching the surface of the road was dreadful and would have shook the thieves up good and proper. Her trailer was eventually recovered from a surburb in Birmingham some 6 miles from where the theft had taken place along with a dozen or so other trailers that had been stolen so she got it back in one piece.

As a footnote: Sue was so shook up by what had happened she made the decision to move to france with her four horses and dogs. She was 56 at the time, a plucky and brave woman to find somewhere to relocate and move all her animals and possessions on her own to another country without being able to speak the language. But she's done really well forherself, has since met a lovely man who she is engaged to, and they are living very happily together. There is no crime where she lives, and everyone is so nice to her; as an outsider she had been treated very, very well.