A FLOCK of sheep worth thousands of pounds has been rustled from a remote Ryedale farm.

Devastated farmer Albert Harper lost a third of his sheep in one fell swoop, just days before he was due to take them to market.

Mr Harper, who fears he will never see the animals again, said: "Sheep farmers have a job breaking even as it is - we don't need things like this."

PC Ian Fraser, of Malton Police, said the offenders made off with the flock of Suffolk, brown-headed and Charolais sheep worth about £3,500 from a field near Wombleton.

Mr Harper, 53, whose family have farmed sheep in North Yorkshire for more than 100 years, said rustling sheep was "the easiest crime in the world".

The theft is a double blow for Mr Harper, after thieves broke into his late uncle's derelict farmhouse in Skiplam, near Helmsley, over the New Year period.

In that raid, the offenders made off with antique Victorian furniture worth £1,750, including a mahogany horse stand, a large chest, a round table and two high-backed chairs.

Mr Harper said: "I am just fed up with all this. I'm starting to think someone has it in for me.

"This is the time of year when a sheep is about ready for market, so it's the worst possible time. I was holding onto them a bit because the price rises."

Each animal would have been worth between £50 and £55. The theft came to light when Mr Harper visited the flock, and spotted lorry tyre tracks in the field.

Mr Harper added: "Whoever did this didn't come for them when they weren't fat. They don't even have to feed them up.

"All they have to do is to clip the eartags out, put some of their own in, take them to the slaughterhouse and that's it - the sheep are gone, and they've made 100 per cent profit."

Last month, the Gazette & Herald reported that Askham Bryan College was conducting a survey, funded by the North York Moors National Park Authority and English Nature, into the problems faced by the county's sheep farmers.

Farmers blame Government red tape and low produce prices for a decline in sheep farming, and experts fear by 2033 there may be no sheep left on the North York Moors.

Updated: 15:58 Wednesday, February 15, 2006