Arson suspected in £50,000 Northamptonshire barn blaze

A family-run beef farming enterprise is counting the cost of a large barn fire, which caused more than £50,000 worth of damage.

The fire destroyed the structure and around 350 six-string Heston straw bales, which the farmers had stored to use as bedding for cattle.

Police believe the blaze, which broke out between 8pm and 10pm on Tuesday 16 May in Warkworth Road, Middleton Cheney, west Northamptonshire, was started deliberately.

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The farmer, who did not want to be named, was calving when a neighbour called him telling him his barn was ablaze. Fire crews were alerted but it was too late to prevent serious damage.

“We have got quite a big beef unit and you need the materials to look after the stock. What they [the arsonists] did is not big or clever. It’s just foolish and heart-breaking,” said the farmer.

“In the summer, we all work long hours and have sleepless nights trying to get the work done before it rains. If we have a really wet or dry summer, the bales would have been very important to us.”

The farmer said he would review security but had little confidence in being able to rebuild the barn and store straw in the same place.

“It’s going to make our lives more difficult,” he added. “We have got another set of buildings we can put plenty of straw in. But it involves using a tractor and trailer every time we want to bed the cattle down.”

The cost of large-scale arson attacks shot up from £4.7m in 2020 to £8.4m in 2021, according to rural insurer NFU Mutual.

Anyone with information about the incident should call Northamptonshire Police on 101 or FireStoppers anonymously on 0800 169 5558, quoting incident number 23000300549.