'Theft' of 11 sheep from Jeremy Clarkson's Diddly Squat Farm was actually a miscount by staff, police confirm

An apparent theft of sheep from Jeremy Clarkson's farm has turned out to be a miscount by a member of staff, police have confirmed. It was initially thought that Diddly Squat Farm had been targeted by rustlers, with 11 animals taken under cover of darkness.Police began investigating as the former Top Gear host demanded the return of the sheep and warned thieves not to attempt further raids, saying: 'We're armed.'However, Thames Valley Police confirmed in an update yesterday that the reported theft had in fact been the result of an accidental miscount by farm staff.All sheep have since been accounted for and the investigation has been closed.Clarkson responded with fury when he believed some of his flock were taken in a late-night raid from the farm in Oxfordshire.The presenter and his co-star, Kaleb Cooper, discovered that only 16 of his 27 Easycare sheep - a modern British breed - were in their field. Jeremy Clarkson responded furiously when he mistakenly thought sheep had been stolen from Diddly Squat FarmAn angry Clarkson told The Sun: 'It's a farm. We're armed. Just so they know.'It p***** me off. Honestly, it just p***** me off.'He said the sheep were worth more than £2,000 at market, with lambs worth up to £8,000 for meat – and added that he was now worried that other livestock might have been stolen from the farm in Oxfordshire.He said he believed that the hit Amazon show had made the farm a target for potential livestock thefts. He added: 'How can you [stop it] if someone's determined to steal your livestock?'This is 1,000 acres, it's a big farm. Anyone could be anywhere and you wouldn't know.'Last month Clarkson said the harvest at Diddly Squat was 'f*****' because of the scorching summer.The farm and pub owner posted a screenshot of the BBC weather forecast for nearby Chipping Norton showing a high of 29C (84F) to Instagram with the caption: 'Harvest already f*****. May as well just enjoy it now.'Filming has started for a sixth series in recent months and it does appear likely that the focus will be on the record-breaking weather this year and the challenge it has posed for farmers.The 1,000-acre farm has previously produced traditional crops including wheat, barley and rapeseed alongside potatoes, mustard and clover.But Clarkson said earlier in the summer that he had deliberately left 200 acres uncropped this year because planting wheat or barley would have guaranteed financial losses.He warned it was becoming 'quite simply impossible' to make money from growing food and warned more farmers could be left with little choice but to use their land for other means.In 2021, Clarkson told The Times that avoiding inheritance tax had been 'the critical thing' in his decision to buy the land in 2008. He did not start farming it himself until 2019. The sheep have featured on the Amazon Prime series Clarkson fronts alongside Caleb CooperDuring a protest in 2024 against proposed reforms by Sir Keir Starmer's Government to the tax he said he had actually bought it 'to shoot'.The Government had proposed imposing a 20 per cent levy on inherited agricultural assets worth more than £1million from April this year, ending the 100 per cent tax relief which had been in place since the 1980s.But after months of protests by farmers – including tractors bringing traffic to a halt in Westminster – the Government raised the threshold to £2.5million.In its first year the farm – originally bought by Mr Clarkson for £4.45million – made just £144 in profit before making less than £15,000 in the year from 2023 to 2024 and losing £5,000 in the year from 2024 to 2025.He wrote last year: 'If those numbers are typical, it means farmers are working twice as hard as anyone else and not even getting the minimum wage.'Earlier this year, Clarkson said he had been diagnosed with 'aggressive' prostate cancer which had been discovered early.He later said a PSA test in April showed no sign of cancer and he was in remission.Earlier this month he appeared at the premiere of the latest series of The Grand Tour, which will see Francis Bourgeois, Thomas Holland and James Engelsman take over from him, James May and Richard Hammond.Jeremy Clarkson's representatives have been contacted for comment.