FARMER Phillip Smerdon has lost sheep worth £1,700 to rustlers in a field at Kingsteignton.

'At least they weren't killed there and left,' said Mr Smerdon (pictured above), in reference to last week's revelations of ritual slaughter of animals in the Bridford Valley.

Some 13 sheep out of 152 were snatched from the field at Whiteway Barton, just yards away from the scene of a tragic tractor death in April when the vehicle rolled over and crushed a man as he prepared a motorcross track for a riding event.