Thames Valley Police tell Jeremy Clarkson 'ewe are to blame' after stolen sheep turn out to be a miscount

From the Newshound archive · first published 24 September 2026.

Jeremy Clarkson raised the alarm after claiming 11 sheep worth more than £2,000 had been stolen from his Diddly Squat farm in Oxfordshire, prompting Thames Valley Police to launch an investigation. Officers ultimately determined that every sheep was present and correct — farm staff had simply miscounted the flock, and the matter has been dropped. Clarkson, 66, had urged the imagined thieves to "put them back" and spent what he described as "700 hours" on hold trying to report the crime.

Clarkson had suggested the theft happened on a filming break, saying otherwise "there's a drone in the air" at Diddly Squat all day.

He told police: 'I know it's going to sound like I'm from 1856, but I've had some sheep stolen.'

A representative confirmed all sheep are accounted for and the case is closed — with police quipping 'ewe are to blame'.