'What a sick thing to do' - farmer appeals for help to catch the arsonists who torched her barn packed with over 1,000 bales of straw near Harborough

A devastated farmer is urging people to help police catch the arsonists who torched her barn packed with over 1,000 bales of straw near Market Harborough.

Patricia Walker, 66, blasted the offenders after the devastating blaze ripped through the open-sided barn in an outlying field on Langton Hall Farm on West Langton Road, West Langton.

She spoke of her shock and heartbreak as expert fire service investigators said the fire was sparked by “deliberate ignition by a naked flame”.

Patricia, who runs the 300-acre livestock farm by herself after her husband John Walker died in 2013, told the Harborough Mail: “This is a very sick thing to do.

“I cannot believe that somebody has done this to me.

“They must do it for pleasure.

“But what sort of pleasure do they get out of burning down my barn full of straw?”

She added: “I only hope that the police catch the dangerous people who did this before they strike again at another farmer’s.

“I’d appeal to anyone out there who saw anything suspicious or who may know who did this to contact the police straight away.

“There must be something wrong with the people who attacked my farm – and they need to be caught quickly.”

Over 15 firefighters from Market Harborough, Kibworth and Wigston dashed to tackle the ferocious inferno just before 8.30pm on Sunday night after a string of people called 999.

A tactical response vehicle from Market Harborough also went along with police after the alarm was raised.

“We have had a couple of sightings of a van, possibly white, driving in and out near my barn last week.

“We had someone moving machinery around down there and as soon as the van saw him they drove off,” said Patricia, who fears the bill will run into thousands of pounds.

“And someone said they saw a van or a car nearby on Sunday afternoon just hours before the barn was set alight.

“The straw actually belongs to a young lad who works for me.

“He was almost in tears, so upset, and he looked at the burning barn and said to me ‘All my hard work has gone up in smoke’.

“I was heartbroken for him, it broke my heart to see him like that.

“I just wanted to give him a big hug – although I couldn’t of course, unfortunately.

“This is the only the third time that we’ve had a fire like this here at Langton Hall Farm in 20-30 years so it is a real blow.

“It’s very worrying and very unnerving for me.

“There aren’t any houses or people living near the barn so it’s slightly remote.

“I can’t keep going down there by myself to check it’s all right because I’m very vulnerable on my own,” said Patricia.

“I padlock all my gates.

“But there is a council road called Featherbed Lane which runs down there by my field giving people access to my land and I obviously can’t block that off.”

The attack on her beloved farm – which has been in her late husband’s family for 80 years since 1935 – comes after hundreds of bales of straw were destroyed in a barn fire in Hallaton on Saturday June 27.

“I’ve also heard there was another incident at Ashley and it makes me wonder if the same person is to blame.

“I’m waiting to see what the insurers say now about the barn as to whether we can repair it or have to knock it down and rebuild it altogether.

“I’ve not slept too well since I’ve got to say.

“We just have to hope that the culprits are caught and dealt with before this happens again,” said Patricia.

Patricia, who has lived at Langton Hall Farm for 28 years, said she usually keeps between 40 and 60 cattle and about 200 sheep.

Leicestershire Police are now calling on anyone who can help them catch the offenders to get in touch with them by ringing 101 immediately.

“Shortly after 8.40pm on Sunday (13 September) officers driving along the A6 noticed a large fire at a barn in West Langton.

“The officers contacted Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service, who attended the incident,” said a police spokesman.

“Anyone with information is asked to contact police, quoting reference 20*480904.”

A fire crew from Market Harborough was at the scene most of Monday damping down as the massive stack of burning straw continued to smoulder following the attack.

A senior specialist fire investigator based at Leicester established that the blaze had been started deliberately after sifting through the gutted barn.