THIEVES smashed their way through the wall of a farm building and stole a piece of machinery worth £2,600.

Farmer Eric Stamworth told of his shock after discovering the log splitter had been snatched from his farm in Foulridge only a week after he bought it.

The burglars pulled back steel cladding and smashed through concrete blocks to make a 2ft square hole to crawl through before stealing the 150kg woodcutter.

Mr Stamworth, 61, of Whitemoor Bottom Farm, said since the theft, he had been waking up in the night concerned he might burgled.

He said: “These people want locking up. It’s very upsetting.

“When I went in there the morning after it had been taken, I thought my son, Mark, must have taken it out to work on it. But when I saw oily fingerprints on my other tools and the hole in the wall, I knew somebody had broken in.”

The log splitter, which can cut trunks more than 2ft in diameter, allowed Mr Stamworth to supplement the income from his stable business over the winter.

He said: “It will affect the farm, not having the log splitter, but it’s more about the emotional effect on us.”

Sgt Shaun Pearson, of Pendle Police, said: “People with property are in a catch-22 situation when it comes to acquisitive crime.

“If a building has had a lot of money spent on it to make it nice and secure, as this outbuilding has, it’s obvious to thieves that there’s something inside worth stealing.

“But if you take the chance and not make it secure, then you leave yourself open to opportunists.”

The incident happened between 3pm on Wednesday, and 7.30am on Thursday at the farm in Whitemoor Road.

Sgt Pearson said: “Enquiries are still ongoing, and if anyone heard or saw anything suspicious in the area, we would urge them to call police on 101.”