Money box theft forces church to lock its doors (From Evesham Journal)

Money box theft forces church to lock its doors

8:00am Friday 15th March 2013 in News

A VILLAGE church has been forced to step up security after money was stolen from its donation box.

Thieves entered St Lawrence’s Church, in Church Street, Weston-sub-Edge, through a door at the front of the building and once inside attempted to break into a safe in the vestry.

As they left, money from a donations box on the wall was stolen. It is not known exactly how much money was taken.

The incident happened between 10pm on Sunday, January 13 and 9am on Monday, January 21.

Barry Knight, church warden, said they had been forced to lock the church after the break-in.

“At the moment we have taken the decision to keep the church locked during the day, which we don’t like doing,” he said.

“I have been here for over 50 years attending the church and nothing like that has happened. You don’t expect it to happen. It wasn’t a nice occasion.”

Mr Knight said he was not sure how much was taken as the donations box was always locked.

“The donations box was open with nothing inside it but whether there was a penny in there or £50, one doesn’t know,” he said.

“As the locksmith said, this wasn’t a professional job. Somebody was just trying to get in.”

Anyone with information that could help the investigation can call police on 101 quoting incident 55 of January 21. Information can also be given anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.