Overnight between Wednesday 29 December and Thursday 30 December, approximately £1,000 worth of damage was caused to a tractor when thieves attempted to remove the vehicle’s satellite receiver.

Overnight between Thursday 30 December and Friday 31 December, four additional incidents were reported in the Dacorum village of Sarratt, where a trailer, a mini digger and power tools were stolen.

Safer Neighbourhood Team officers urge the rural community to be vigilant after the attempted theft of farming equipment in Maple Cross.

PC Christian Gottmann, a Rural and Wildlife Crime Officer, said: “The equipment has since been removed from the tractor as a crime prevention measure, but we’d like to warn the rural community of these incidents so they can take further precautions to protect their property by locking items away securely.

“We are investigating these incidents and appeal to anyone who witnessed suspicious activity in the Denham Way area of Maple Cross, or the village of Sarratt, overnight between the dates stated to come forward and speak to us. In the meantime, we will be increasing our patrols of these areas as a reassurance measure.”

If you have information, you can email PC Gottmann at christian.gottmann@herts.police.uk, use online web chat at herts.police.uk/contact, report information at herts.police.uk/report or call the non-emergency number 101, quoting reference 41/102207/21.