Thieves strip lead from church roof
Thieves strip lead from church roof
CALLOUS thieves have stolen stone from a brand new church extension and stripped lead from its roof.
Lead was taken from the roof of Batley Parish Church and the vestry, and cap stones were removed from the roof of the new church extension, which was only completed last week.
The thieves hit first on Thursday night and then returned again on Friday night to finish the job.
On Friday they also emptied rubbish from the church wheelie bins on to the floor and stole those too to make off with their haul.
The Rev Andrew Johnson, Vicar of All Saints (Batley Parish) and St Andrew's, Purlwell, said: "I'm angry and frustrated at these callous actions. The church extension, which we did to improve facilities at the church for the community, was only completed last week. The builders had just finished all the little jobs they needed to do and now we'll need to replace all the cap stones they took off when they were looking for lead.
"Lead was also stolen from the roof of St Andrew's last month. I know we're not the only churches this has happened to. Times are hard at the minute and the price of lead has risen, but that's no excuse to strip the building.
"Now we're thinking of replacing the lead with a lead substitute so this doesn't happen again."
Police are investigating and enquries are ongoing.
Local officers are visiting scrap merchants around Leeds and Dewsbury daily to check what kinds of things are being taken in to them and asking for scrap merchants to report anything suspicious.
By Gemma Ryder
gemmaryder@ywng.co.uk
STOLEN: The Rev Andrew Johnson is angry about lead being stolen from the roof of the church and the new extension. (d20071054)
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Weather for Batley
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
