Police hunch leads to discovery of £30,000 worth of stolen digging equipment near Warwick and Leamington

A police hunch led officers to recover about £30,000 worth of stolen digging equipment near Warwick and Leamington.

The discovery started when officers from the Warwickshire Rural Crime Team were patrolling around the Charlecote area just before Christmas, and officers spotted a BMW parked in a field gateway.

"Usually, you wouldn't look twice at such a vehicle, but something just didn't sit right," said the Warwickshire Rural Crime Team.

"As we turned around and approached the BMW, the driver decided they didn't want to hang around for a chat.

"After initially hotfooting it after the BMW, it occurred to us that clearly something more interesting was probably occurring near where it was parked up."

And they were right. Officers found a dumper truck had been moved from a nearby building site and filled with hydraulic equipment. They also found tracks in the wet grass that a trailer had clearly been used.

A short distance away, officers located both the trailer and a little one-ton digger.

Inquiries found the trailer had been stolen from near Shipston on Stour a few weeks prior, and the digger was also from the building site.

"Almost £30k worth of equipment recovered, and the offenders left empty-handed" said the Warwickshire Rural Crime Team.