Churches in Cornwall and Devon subjected to 212 crimes in the last year
The Countryside Alliance is raising awareness of lead theft in rural areas
212 crimes have been recorded at churches across Cornwall and Devon over the past year.
An investigation has been carried out into into lead theft and criminal activity reported at local churches in the UK.
The investigation took place after several complaints were made to the Countryside Alliance from members who were concerned that nothing was being done to raise awareness of lead theft in rural areas. The figures come one year on from the group’s previous report.
After submitting a Freedom of Information Act request to Devon and Cornwall Police, the rural campaigning group learned that churches in and across the two counties are not only being targeted for their lead, but that there were also multiple other crimes recorded including vandalism, assault and burglary.
Devon and Cornwall saw 212 crimes recorded at churches covering the period of July 2019 to September 2020.
This total includes 5 cases of lead theft; 62 cases of general thefts; 80 cases of criminal damage and 27 cases of violence as well as 38 burglaries. There was also 1 report involving a ‘vehicle offence’.
Across the UK, some 5,831 crimes have been reported at churches and religious buildings, after 40 of 45 UK police forces responded to the FOI request from the Countryside Alliance.
The Countryside Alliance, which campaigns on rural issues, has compiled the data from across the country, into a report for its membership. This includes a staggering 946 cases of violence, 1,750 of criminal damage and 2,152 of thefts of which, 278 relate to lead and other metal theft.
“Taking into account that during some of this year, the country was in lockdown, it is chilling to learn that criminals either acting alone or in gangs have taken advantage of this awful pandemic and continued to target rural churches.
"Of course, people need to have open access to our religious sanctuaries, but the warnings from last year backed up by these latest figures, must be heeded if we are to seriously protect our places of worship.
"We need to ramp up access to a greater amount of funding from the protective security scheme and ensure the scheme remains available going forward. It will also require greater vigilance from the public, particularly in rural areas, where suspicious activity must be reported to police."
Mo Metcalf- Fisher, Countryside Alliance