Metal thieves hit church yet again (From Cotswold Journal)

Metal thieves hit church yet again

12:00pm Thursday 2nd August 2012 in News

AN Evesham church has fallen victim to metal thieves for the sixth time in less than a year.

About £1,000 worth of lead was stripped from the porch roof of All Saints Church in Market Place over the weekend, just days before a new alarm system was fitted.

The theft is believed to have taken place between 10pm on Saturday night and 9am on Monday morning.

Despite the high cost of replacing the roofing, it is thought the stolen metal will only be worth about £100 to the thieves.

Vicar Andrew Spurr said: “There is so much lead gone now the roof is nearly all stainless steel.

“The thieves will only get about £100 but it will cost us considerably more than that to replace.

“We have now got an all singing and all dancing alarm system fitted this week that will trigger CCTV if set off. It has taken a long time to get it.”

The church first fell victim to metal thefts in September 2011 and since then has been targeted another five times.

The most recent incident before last weekend took place in March and requires the church and its congregation to find about £10,000 for repairs.

“We shall wait and see if there will be more thefts,”

said Rev Spurr.

“With the alarm system triggering the CCTV it means if it happens again we will expect the police to be able to act, which they are unable to do without evidence or forensics.

If we do catch any thieves we will prosecute.”

As well as being targeted by lead thieves, All Saints has suffered in recent weeks with the closure of Evesham Bell Tower due to safety reasons. It needs to be repaired at a cost of several thousand pounds.

Anyone with information on the metal theft is asked to call Evesham police on 0300 333 3000 and quote reference 234S 300712.