The police have told Jeremy Clarkson “ewe are to blame” after investigating the alleged theft of 11 sheep from his farm – only to discover they were all there.
After the Clarkson’s Farm star claimed the livestock were missing while checking his flock on his Oxfordshire holding alongside co-star Kaleb Cooper, Thames Valley Police stepped in. But they have now revealed it was an accidental miscount by farm staff.
All sheep have now been accounted for, a representative told the BBC, adding that the case has now been closed.
In September, a “p***ed off” Clarkson, 66, urged those he believed responsible for taking the sheep to “put them back”, claiming that they were worth in excess of £2,000 at market.
He suggested the imagined theft took place at night or on a day when filming for Prime Video’s Clarkson’s Farm was paused, explaining that otherwise there is “a film crew here all the time” and “a drone in the air”.
Asked whether he believed the show had made his farm a target, Clarkson said: “It’s more likely to make you a target than less, but I still don’t think they’ve been stolen because they’re on Diddly Squat.”
Making the results more frustrating for Clarkson is the fact he was on the phone for ages while trying to get through to the police.
“They have been very good, actually. Once you go through 700 hours of recorded messages, I got through to a girl. I said, ‘I know it’s going to sound like I’m from 1856, but I’ve had some sheep stolen.’”
Speaking days afterwards, Cooper told The Mirror: “This is the problem, isn't it? How do you know that someone's not gonna go and rob that field at the top there when you're out on a night out? You just don't know. Nobody else is looking out for you. But it’s in the police’s hands now. We have to leave it to the police.”
Earlier this year, in an episode of his Prime show, Clarkson revealed he had been diagnosed with “aggressive” prostate cancer, which had been discovered early.
In a subsequent interview with The Sunday Times, Clarkson said that a PSA test in April showed no indication of cancer and he is in remission.
Lisa Hogan, his partner of nine years, explained that he was initially hesitant to reveal his diagnosis to viewers, but that his decision to announce the news in that way “helped thousands”.
She told the Daily Star Sunday: “I’m really happy he caught his prostate cancer early and I’m really proud of him for putting it on the show, because that was a really big decision.
“When I was filming him in hospital at first, he said, ‘Please don’t’. It was [producer] Andy Wilman who convinced him to do it, to help everybody else. When the show came out, Prostate Cancer UK had 30,000 people going on to their website in one day.”
