Wensleydale cheese and meat valued at £1,000 stolen

Burglars have stolen cheese and meat valued at more than £1,000 from the Wensleydale cheese factory and a neighbouring food producer.

The Ribblesdale Cheese Company and The Good Life on Upper Wensleydale Business Park in Hawes were broken into overnight on Saturday.

Speciality cheeses, burgers, steak and kidney pies, chicken nuggets, sausage rolls, coffee and dog food were taken.

Police said the goods could be destined for car boot or door-to-door sales.

More than £500 of cheese was stolen from the Ribblesdale Cheese Company, including 18 blocks of sheeps milk cheese weighing at least 2kg each, 4kg of blue goats cheese and three rounds of superior goat's cheese.

'Disruption and inconvenience'

Some of the cheese is marked with batch number D25 and dated April 2009.

A camera, two laptops and a quantity of cash were also taken.

The Good Life lost about £620 of food including 11 5kg blocks of cheddar and Wensleydale cheese labelled as Karron Lodge.

Fifty items of Namaste jewellery including earrings, necklaces and bracelets valued at about £500 were also taken.

PC Alan Busby said: "The theft is quite unusual and we believe the goods may be destined for resale, either in a shop, door-to-door or car boot sale.

"I am therefore appealing to anyone who may be offered the items for sale, including food outlets or shops, to contact the police.

"These crimes have caused a lot of upset and loss to local businesses. This is the last thing they need in the current financial climate.

"It's not only about the theft of the goods, but the disruption and inconvenience caused to law-abiding members of the public who keep the local economy going."