AN identity parade like no other was held on a windswept moorland farm as police tried to return 151 stolen sheep back to their rightful flocks, a court heard.

Farmers from three counties gathered at the "sheep parade" to try to identify their missing ewes, some of which had been snatched up to three years earlier and placed in a "safe house for stolen sheep."

But even after their markings and tags had been removed there was no pulling the wool over the expert eye of the seasoned shepherds who were able to identify their own animals by the shapes of their faces, their colouring and even the way they walked.

The 14 farmers, North Yorkshire, County Durham and Cumbria, recognised 116 of the 151 sheep paraded in front of them and they were returned to their farms.

At Teesside Crown Court today, three members of a farming family went on trial accused of using the stolen sheep for their own purposes after they had been disguised and passed off as their own.

Philip Raine, 46, his long-term partner Shirley Straughan, 41, and Raine's uncle, Neville Raine, 66, all deny "conspiring to use criminal property - namely sheep - knowing them to be stolen."

The court heard some of the sheep had identifying ear tags removed, others had identifying marks that were burnt into their horns obscured and wool markings taken off.

The case goes to the heart of farming traditions in the bleak and exposed moorland of Teesdale, where the three counties meet along the course of the A66 trans-Pennine trunk road.

Sam Faulks, prosecuting, told the jury they may be familiar with the area, possibly having stopped off to look in the antiques shops of nearby Barnard Castle on the way to "a wet weekend of camping and misery" in the Lake District.

He said: "In that corridor you are blessed with a dual-carriageway which crosses some fairly desolate countryside. You may not have given that area another thought other than how bleak it is.

"You may, indeed, think that not much happens there, but you would be wrong. 

"It is alive with sheep farmers and if you have a flock where a ewe is worth £50 to £250 spread across several hundred acres it is important there is trust between farmers.

"If a sheep wanders onto another farmer's farm that farmer is trusted to repatriate the wandering sheep and not take advantage of the isolation of another farmer's flock and pinch some of his sheep.

"There are ways farmers can identify their sheep. It can be as basic as the shape of their face or colour or gait."

The sheep parades were held at Philip Raine's Hazel Gill farm and a number of other moorland location in October and November of 2013.

As a result it was discovered stolen sheep from a wide area had turned up on three farms owned by Philip and Neville Raine and a third one owned by Shirley Straughan.

Mr Faulks said: "Investigations led to a number of sheep parades being held and in the course of that process 14 different farmers from three different counties identified 116 missing sheep as belonging to them."

He added that 35 could not be identified and were returned to Philip Raine's farm at Hazel Gill near Bowes, County Durham, and Neville Raine's farm at the Otter Trust, near Bowes.

The court heard stolen sheep were also found at a farm owned by Straughan at High Wales, Hamsterley, County Durham, although she lived with her partner at Hazel Gill.

Mr Faulks said: "It is inconceivable that sheep from Cumbria, Durham and North Yorkshire should all end up by accident at the Otter Trust, High Wales and Hazel Gill.

"It is inconceivable so many ear tags and horn burnings being removed could have happened for legitimate reasons. This was deliberate, organised and orchestrated. In short, they were in it together."

Philip Raine's house was chosen by the family as the main holding area for the snatched ewes because of its remoteness, it is alleged.

Mr Faulks said: "The majority of these sheep were kept at Hazel Gill. It is more remote, it is not on the A66, it has a boundary wall around it and it was a safe house for stolen sheep."

A jar containing the removed ear tags of stolen sheep was found at the farm by police, the jury was told.

Mr Faulks continued: "In all cases the defendants deny they knew the sheep were missing sheep and further they do no accept knowing that interfering with sheep markings was ilegal.

"The crown says that any farmer knows that to remove sheep markings is just plain wrong - as wrong as you or I grinding out the chassis number or registration plate of a car."

The complex trial is expected to last four weeks and will hear evidence from sheep identification experts as well as the 14 farmers whose sheep were taken between 2010 and 2013.

The case continues.

*We are happy to make clear that this case has no connection to Robin Raine, sheep farmer in the Eden Valley, or his son, Charles Raine, a surveyor from Northumberland.