Increasing rural crime means trust is disappearing from many communities in the countryside, local residents claim.

In particular, farmers and gamekeepers in the normally tranquil Angus Glens say they have been left sickened by a spate of burglaries and damage to property.

Earlier this month, NFU Mutual published its Rural Crime Report, saying early theft claims statistics for the first half of this year showed a sharp rise of over 20 per cent nationally, raising concerns a new wave of rural crime is hitting the countryside.

Now several estates in and around Glenesk have reported suffering break-ins this month, with the most recent incident last week seeing the daylight theft of tools from an outbuilding belonging to a tenant farmer.

“You don’t expect these kinds of things to be happening so far up the glen,” said farmer Mike Littlejohn, who reported a burglary to police last week.