Guns and poison stolen in raid on farm

Thieves broke into the house, near Coulton, outside Malton, while the owners were at work.

They ripped a heavy metal gun cabinet, housed in a downstairs room, off the wall.

Inside were four rifles and three shotguns, as well as the poison bottle, which the owner had kept inside for safety reasons.

The man, who asked not to be named, said: "We think someone broke in yesterday afternoon between 12pm and 6pm, when the house was empty.

"The thing with the guns is that there's nothing really valuable, it's the fact that they are of such a high calibre.

"I am more concerned about what someone might do to hurt somebody with them, or even hurt themselves if they don't know what they are doing.

"But I think they have known what they wanted. Nothing else was taken, so that says something I think."

One of the rifles, which the 46-year-old man kept for vermin control, was fitted with a bipod - legs which swing down to stabilise it.

Three were fitted with scopes, and one had a big powerful lamp on it.

"These things might have been discarded and dumped in a hedge somewhere, so if someone finds them, those sorts of things might give the police a start.

"The thieves are going to have to have taken the gun cabinet apart and I would have thought they would need angle grinders to open it.

"I am hoping that the exposure in the paper might wake people in the area, maybe they saw someone loitering around."

Detective Sergeant Ian Fieldsend, of Malton CID, urged anyone who came across something that may have been discarded to contact them immediately.

"If the strychnine bottle has been dumped, the public need to be aware that it is an extremely dangerous substance.

"I would hate for a child to pick it up and not know what it is."

The small hexagonal poison bottle is brown and was labelled. The grey gun cabinet is 5ft by 20ins by 1ft. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Ryedale Witness Line on 01723 509662.

Updated: 11:13 Friday, February 28, 2003