{"id":28878,"date":"2021-01-15T17:52:34","date_gmt":"2021-01-15T17:52:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsblogsnew.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=28878"},"modified":"2023-11-14T17:44:44","modified_gmt":"2023-11-14T17:44:44","slug":"ihbc-features-heritage-from-the-doorstep-gang-members-jailed-after-2m-lead-thefts-from-churches-in-lincolnshire-and-beyond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=28878","title":{"rendered":"IHBC features \u2018Heritage from the doorstep\u2019: Gang members jailed after \u00a32M lead thefts from churches in Lincolnshire and beyond"},"content":{"rendered":"

A prolific gang stripped the lead from dozens of rural churches across England, including Billingborough and Normanton – causing utter devastation to village communities \u2013 reports The Grantham Journal<\/em>, as part of a two-year crime spree that left churches with bills of more than \u00a32M.<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

\u2026 community [described] as being in \u2018profound shock\u2019\u2026<\/span><\/em><\/h2>\n

\u2026 Each theft required significant planning\u2026.harm was high\u2026. [because of] impact on the local and wider community \u2026<\/span><\/em><\/h2>\n

The Grantham Journal<\/em> writes:<\/p>\n

The counties hardest hit by the crime spree were Lincolnshire, Somerset, Cambridgeshire and Yorkshire.<\/p>\n

Thefts also occurred from churches in Wiltshire, Suffolk, Leicestershire and Derbyshire.<\/p>\n

The gang, who all lived in the West Midlands, were arrested in March 2020….<\/p>\n

The attacked buildings were of huge religious and historic significance to the local community and to the country generally.”<\/p>\n

The damage to one church, the 14th Century St Bartholomew\u2019s at Covenham St Bartholomew was valued at \u00a3250,000 and the other targeted churches all suffered significant damage with the loss of the lead causing water ingress which damaged the inside of the buildings.<\/p>\n

Other churches in Lincolnshire that were targeted included St Nicholas at Normanton, St Lawrence at Tallington, St Mary and St Nicholas at Wrangle,\u00a0St Andrew\u2019s at Billingborough<\/a>\u00a0and St Swithin\u2019s at Baumber.<\/p>\n

The damage caused to St Nicholas Church was estimated to be between \u00a3150,000 and \u00a3200,000. There was also damage to headstones in the graveyard caused by the lead being thrown to the ground. The court was told that the church had no access to insurance.<\/p>\n

An estimated \u00a3140,000 damage was caused to the church at Wrangle and \u00a330,000 worth of damage was caused St Lawrence\u2019s at Tallington<\/p>\n

The damage to St Swithin\u2019s at Baumber and St Andrew’s Church in the village of Billingborough was also significant.<\/p>\n

The Billingborough church minister the Rev Neil Knox described the community as being in \u201cprofound shock\u201d at what happened with lunches for the elderly, coffee mornings and village social events all affected.<\/p>\n

Mr Cranmer-Brown said that loss of lead damaged not only the church buildings but caused serious problems to the local communities….<\/p>\n

Mr Cranmer-Brown said that the churches were targeted after the defendants trawled the internet for potential targets.<\/p>\n

They often used hire vehicles many of which had tracking devices which provided evidence for the police as to exactly where they had been.<\/p>\n

The lead was rolled up from the roof and thrown onto the ground sometimes damaging gravestones in the churchyard. …<\/p>\n

Judge Catarina Sjolin Knight said: \u201cThis was an organised, sophisticated and persistent operation which targeted country churches across England for their lead. Each theft required significant planning and team work both to conduct the theft.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe harm was high because of the heavy consequential financial losses occasioned by the thefts, the impact on the local and wider community and the damage to heritage assets.”<\/p>\n

Read more….<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A prolific gang stripped the lead from dozens of rural churches across England, including Billingborough and Normanton – causing utter devastation to village communities \u2013 reports The Grantham Journal, as part of a two-year crime spree that left churches with … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ihbc-newsblog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28878"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28878\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38239,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28878\/revisions\/38239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}