St John's Church damaged in unsuccessful night break-ins
A church in Bury St Edmunds was vandalised during several unsuccessful robberies.
Between 6pm last Thursday and 8.15am on Friday, St John’s Church was forced open and a large amount of damage was caused.
The criminals struck again on Saturday at some point between 6pm and 7.55am on Sunday.
During this attempt, damage was caused to an oak money chest and brass cross.
Together, the damage caused is estimated to be in the region of £1,000.
Adrian Mann, From Bury St Edmunds, has volunteered at the St John’s Street church for more than 40 years. He said: “It is obviously a nuisance, but is part of life. There must be some fairly desperate people out there trying to fund some sort of habit or other. In their desperation they do something like this.
“The churchwardens have been dealing with this. The archdiocese has been along to look at the damage and we are working on what we need to do to repair it.”
On Thursday, someone had attempted to break into the vestry and postbox, which were both damaged.
Adrian added: “We are also keen to get the message out there for people to keep an eye on the church and to report anything strange they see.
“At the moment we feel a bit targeted but if people keep their eyes open this could help.”
On Friday morning, Adrian found that doors had been similarly damaged, and a collection box unsuccessfully tampered with, which has been left vandalised – both incidents were reported to police. Forensic officers have been to the church to investigate.
Anyone with information should contact police, quoting crime reference 37/38022/19
for the first incident and 37/38030/19 for the second.
