A STRUGGLING farmer who made a bogus insurance claim for a stolen tractor was caught when investigators found it had actually been repossessed.

Luke Morley filed a claim for £26,500 plus VAT for the John Deere tractor which he claimed had been stolen from a field near his home in Bradworthy.

He supported his claim by inventing a fake crime report number and forging a false receipt from an agricultural machinery firm and altering a DVLC tax form which he submitted to his insurance broker.

In reality, the tractor had been repossessed for non-payment by an Exeter-based finance company in November 2017, three months before Morley took out the insurance policy on it. It was reported that the tractor had been sold on and was owned by another farmer by the time he had made his bogus claim in May 2018.

Morley was desperate for money to prop up the smallholding he ran in North Devon with his partner Rebecca Tucker in 2018 at a time when they were already being prosecuted by the RSPCA for failing to feed or look after horses, cattle and pigs.

They both received suspended sentences after magistrates were shown horrific photos of emaciated horses, some with open sores, and pigs left in squalid sheds with inadequate food or water, Tucker admitted eight animal welfare offences and Morley six.

He split up with Tucker after that case and tried to blame her as insurance investigators and the police unravelled his web of lies. He left farming and is now working on a building site.

Morley, aged 43, formerly of Dingworthy Cottage, Bradworthy, but now of Elliott Road, Leicester, admitted fraud and was jailed for a year, suspended for 18 months and ordered to do 180 hours unpaid community work and pay £1,180 costs by Recorder Emma Zeb at Exeter Crown Court.

The judge told him: “I have read about your dyslexia and dyspraxia and I am told you found stress more difficult to cope with, particularly financial stress, but many people suffer financial stress but do not turn to crime to solve it. You were motivated by personal gain more than through opportunism.”

Mr Thomas Faulkner, prosecuting, said the tractor was repossessed in November 2017 but Morley reported it stolen to brokers Mole Insurance in May 2018. He then forged documents and invented a false crime reference.

He told an investigator he left the tractor locked and secure in a field 100 yards from his home on May 14 and found it missing the next day.

He continued to lie as his claim was investigated over the next three months, creating a faked receipt for the purchase of the £26,500 tractor from the Holsworthy depot of Smallridge Brothers.

Mr Ed Bailey, defending, said Morley was under enormous pressure from debts and the animal welfare investigation when he committed this offence and is now thoroughly remorseful.

He is now working for a building company and but remains in debt and is still paying creditors under an Individual Voluntary Arrangement.

Mr Bailey said: “The tractor had been repossessed and sold on. He set out to make a completely dishonest claim and perhaps rather cowardly placed the blame on his ex-partner.

The animal welfare case was dealt with by Exeter Magistrates in August 2018, just days after Morley produced the final forged documents in the insurance fraud case. The neglect charges were brought jointly by the RSPCA and Trading Standards.

Both Morley and Tucker were banned from keeping animals for ten years and received suspended sentences.

Their smallholding was visited by vets several times during December 2017 and June 2018 and animals were found malnourished, in squalid conditions or neglected.

A vet found 14 cattle in a newly built shed with no dry lying or bedding or food. There was also a pig pen where the animals had no access to water and there was no food in the trough.

On another visit, Trading Standards Officers found 11 horses in a field with no suitable dry area for them to lie down in and no supplementary food.

There was also a collapsed five bar gate, collapsed fencing and collapsing netting in the field posing dangers of sharp metal edges and nails. Rubbish and plastic had also been burned nearby.

During the hot sunny period in May vets were concerned about the lack of food, water and adequate shelter for the pigs - sunburn is a significant problem for pigs.

A further visit in June found eight pigs with a lack of dry bedding and a Belgian blue calf suffering from hair loss, scabs and a significant untreated lice infestation.

Despite repeated advice and intervention, Tucker and Morley made only temporary improvements, if any, in caring for their animals.