Vintage machinery destroyed in arson attack on family farm

MORE than £80,000 worth of farming machinery has been destroyed during a ‘devastating’ arson attack on a farm in Drumnakilly.

The Rutledge family, who live on the Spring Road, say they had collected the machinery over ten to 12 years, and it had sentimental value.

The incident has left them ‘heartbroken’.

In the early hours of last Friday (August 11), the mother of the family was awoken by the sounds of tyres bursting.

She then rang her son, Clive, to come over to see what was happening.

Speaking to the UlsterHerald, Clive said that the perpetrators had targeted one of the tractors.

“We saw two masked men on the CCTV come up the back lane and into the shed,” he said.

“They knew exactly what they were going for as they walked straight past one tractor, and opened the door of the Lamborghini tractor.

“Then, they sprayed the whole cab with petrol, and set the tractor alight,” Clive said.

He explained that the fire then spread, destroying the shed and everything in it.

Clive added that, by the time firefighters arrived 20 minutes later, the shed was all gone.

The family had put hundreds of hours put into restoring the machinery.

“It was passion, more than necessity,” Clive said.

“We had been collecting these machines for ten-to-12 years.

“Most of them were either broken or poor quality, but we put a lot of effort into restoring them.”

Though the value of damages amounted to over £80,000, according to Clive, it was the sentimental memories of their dedicated labour put into fixing the machines that cost them the most.

He added, “I’m a welder, and my brother is a mechanic. We had grown a lot of sentimental value when we were painting up and restoring these machines, and that is the most devastating part.”

In addition, a medium-sized poly-tunnel outside of the shed was decimated by the sheer heat from the fire, destroying the lining and everything inside the tunnel.

“This has set us back many years,” Clive said.

“We’re not able to operate at the same scale as we used to, and now, for the next few years , we will be working at a loss, as we will have to employ people to do our silage and any other heavy work,” he explained.

“We are devastated and heartbroken. It’s never something we thought would ever happen, but now that it has, we are cautious all the time,” Clive added.

Appealing for witnesses, PSNI Sergeant Sproule said “At this time, we believe that a tractor in the shed was set on fire, and we are keen to speak to two men who were in the area shortly after 1.30am.

“One was wearing a beanie hat, while the other had a hood up.

“The shed, along with two tractors were destroyed as a result of the fire.”

The sergeant added, “At this time, we are treating this as arson, and we would appeal to anyone with any information to contact us on 101, quoting reference 117 11/8/23.”

Alternatively, you can submit a report online using the non-emergency reporting form via http://www.psni.police.uk/makeareport/.

You can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at http://crimestoppers-uk.org/.