RURAL crime cost the region almost £8million last year - with the North-East named as the country's worst affected area, a report outlines today.

The NFU Mutual's annual Rural Crime Report reveals that while rural crime remained broadly static during 2015, the cost to the UK economy reached £42.5million in 2015.

The North-East region, which included Yorkshire in the survey, was named as the worst affected by rural crime, costing £7.9million followed by the East of England, costing £6.9million.

The report reveals a 19 per cent rise in rural crime in County Durham last year, costing the county almost half a million pounds – with quad bikes, farm machinery and tools top of the thieves' wish list.

But the news was not bad in all parts of the region.

Rural crime fell by more than 50 per cent in Northumberland and in North Yorkshire it was down from £1.1million in 2014 to just over £1million in 2015. However, the county was the ninth most targeted in the country.

In February this year, a designated Rural Crime Task Force was set up by North Yorkshire Police and its police commissioner Julia Mulligan, which is expected to drive these figures down further.

It is the biggest task force of its kind in England.

Tim Price, rural affairs specialist with NFU Mutual said: “There’s been a lot of effort by farmers and police and ourselves at NFU Mutual to improve security on tractors and other farm machinery and that has had a big effect, particularly in Northumberland.

“About five years ago we had a huge amount of tractor thefts in East Anglia where all the big kit is for arable farming. They had to improve security and that had a knock-on effect in the country.”

In the survey of NFU Mutual Agents, the majority (65 per cent) reported thieves in their area becoming more sophisticated with cybercrime a growing concern.

Kate Sowden, NFU Group Secretary in Durham, who specialises in farm insurance, said: "Farmers and police have been working hard to adopt high-tech security measures to tackle the problems which now include: cloning tractor identities, advertising non-existent machinery in agricultural publications and stealing GPS computer systems which are a key part of modern farming."

There has also been a shift in items targeted in rural homes, with the report identifying theft of garden equipment as the biggest growing trend along with 4x4s.

Tractors proved particularly vulnerable in the North-East, with a spate of high value thefts.

Clare Pybus, NFU Mutual senior agent in Whitby, said: "Rural thieves are becoming increasingly sophisticated and using computers rather than bolt cutters to steal from farms and country properties.

"However, it is reassuring to see levels of rural crime falling in North Yorkshire and this reflects the huge efforts being made by anti-crime schemes throughout the countryside."