Four men have been arrested following a spate of thefts of lead from church roofs in Leicestershire, Rutland and nearby counties. This is good news and shows what can be achieved by our county police forces working together.
The Lincolnshire Police have had a dedicated team of investigators making enquiries into the theft of lead from churches during 2019 and January 2020. Now, four men, aged 24, 28, 30 and 43, have been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to steal. They have been released on bail while investigations continue. Our own Leicestershire and Rutland Police force is to be congratulated on their co-operation and the work that they have done.
It is believed that in total there were more than 40 offences where lead was stolen from rural churches during 2019, and though at this stage 16 of those are believed to be linked, it is anticipated that number may increase as the investigation progresses.
The impact of these offences goes well beyond the significant financial cost. Communities have felt a great sense of loss at the damage caused to their heritage, and increased vulnerability due to the rural nature of many of the premises.
I was in Great Dalby last weekend and was told that the lead from their church roof had been stolen twice in the past two years. On the second theft it rained heavily before the missing roof was noticed. Carpets were sodden, pews were wet, stone floors were soaked, and brick floors had collapsed. Nevertheless a rescue team of villagers was summoned and they made the building good enough for a double christening to go ahead the next day. It was a minor consolation that the church wardens were able to salvage some old lead from the porch with initials, dates and footprints from the 1700's.
It is absolutely essential that the police continue to work with rural communities to prevent offending, and encourage anyone seeing or hearing anything suspicious at Heritage Sites, particularly at night but also during the day, to contact Police immediately.
If I am elected to be Police and Crime Commissioner for Leicestershire and Rutland, I will expand our Rural Crime Teams to provide effective cover across our two counties.
I will also provide Heritage Crime Officers who will be trained to work on investigations such as this. They will also be tasked with providing site-specific advice to parish councils, church wardens and others responsible for the care of valuable, but vulnerable buildings and other structures. Very often these buildings are essential to the atmosphere of our villages and key to village life and community. They must and will be protected.
