Vicar’s despair over metal raid

The Rev Stephen Carter is dismayed as he looks up at the 100-year-old stained-glass window, which has been smashed by thieves.

But the vicar at St Andrew’s Church in Netherton knows the thieves were not after the silver or collection money – but were hunting for metal to sell on the black market.

“They used half a paving slab to smash the window and we know they were looking for copper pipe because the same thing has happened at churches across the region,” he said.

“Copper is worth a lot now – I think it is around £1,000 a tonne.

“We had the lead flashing taken off the roof causing £2,000 of damage and it will take £5,000 to repair the window.

“My reaction to this is sadness that people feel the need to do it and they  don’t seem to consider the feelings of the people it might affect.

“They don’t seem to have any respect for a holy place.

“People used to worry that stealing from a church – from God’s house – would have bad repercussions.  But now they don’t seem to care.”

The attack is the latest in a long line of break-ins at churches across the Black Country. 

The scale of metal thefts generally is huge and is one that the West Midlands Police are not keen to divulge, refusing a request from the Express & Star for figures.

Some of the recent thefts from churches reported in recent weeks include:

* Lead sheets and a copper lightning conductor stripped from St Giles church bell tower  in Willenhall costing the church £1,000

* A gang at St Stephen’s Church in Springfield, Wolverhampton, ripping the lead guttering from its roof, costing an estimated £5,000 to repair

* St Anne’s Church in Willenhall having lead guttering stripped from the roof

* An attack on Holy Trinity Church in Bushbury Road, Heath Town, which saw two stained glass windows smashed as thieves made off with lightning conductors and lead flashing.

Even though police were not forthcoming with information, it is believed that in February there were at least 18 incidents of copper thefts in Sandwell and Dudley alone.

Officers, who have labelled the thieves the “metal mafia”, say the thefts of lead, copper and other metals - from roofs, guttering and lightning conductors - are prompted by the rising price of these materials.

John Coates, Ecclesiastical’s Church Insurance Manager, said: “It’s not just the cost of replacing the materials that is the problem. 

“Thieves have also torn holes in roofs causing them to leak and ripped stone-work away from pinnacles and towers.”