Thieves keep coming back to a church near Wolverhampton to help themselves to lead from its roof because they cannot carry it all off at once.
St Andrew’s Church in Shifnal has been targeted three times in the last month and around £18,000 worth of lead has been stripped.
The church is a treasure trove for metal thieves because tough rules on preserving listed buildings mean church leaders must replace everything with exactly the same materials.
The thefts are a serious blow to parishioners who recently saw £120,000 of work carried out on the roof of the Lady Chapel and chancel at the Manor Close church.
Father Graham Fowell said the problem was made worse because the stolen metal could not be replaced with something cheaper.
He said the church had first been hit a month ago when thieves stripped £6,000 worth of lead.
They returned last Friday to take another £4,000 of lead and again this weekend to take £8,000 worth.
Anyone with information is urged to contact police on 08457 444888.
4 Comments
Another sad state of affairs. Not at least the fact that the thefts are being broadcast regularly. In this case the report claims £18,000.00 of theft & that the replacement has to be the same lead material. Now forgive me but these theives aren’t as stupid as you think & should they buy a paper or look at this article on the internet then surely it will be a matter of time before they strike on the same church again. I’d hope that someone will use half a brain cell & stop publishing this information.
Good idea Simeon.
Why not stop reporting any bad news at all.
I’m sure we’d all sleep safer in our beds at night.
A lot more can be done to protect the lead that is stolen, such as painting it with thick black tar that will rub off and cause permanent scaring on the thieves.
If you keep putting it back up they’re going to keep taking it down.
As Simon says, the thieves are not stupid and they do their research!
Can you get some nice looking lead coloured upvc?
And why the hell doesn’t someone place cameras or alarms on the church for gods sake?
Just goes to show how poor the policing is in the region. I bet the crooks are laughing all the way to the bank.