Stratford church and theatre hit by thieves three times in a month
CALLOUS thieves have broken into the United Reformed Church in Stratford three times in a month.
Both the church and adjacent Bear Pit Theatre have been burgled leaving the United Reformed Church (URC) with a bill of £6,000 to replace stolen items and repair the damage.
And Stratford’s church community was targeted again on Monday (15th August) when Holy Trinity Parish Centre, in Old Town, was broken into in the early hours, making it the fifth or sixth time that site has been burgled since April.
A CCTV camera and chocolates were stolen.
At the United Reformed Church an old mobile phone, two old laptops belonging to the Oasis Church, which worships at URC, were taken and at the Bear Pit a laptop and various bits of technical equipment were stolen.
Church elder, Ann Jones, said she was shocked by how many times the URC had been targeted, especially when taking into account that there were two other attempted break-ins between the end of June to the beginning of August.
“I am fairly speechless with the whole thing – why are they targeting churches? It’s caused damaged to both buildings and I’m very shocked by what’s happened because we love our church and we don’t want to see it trashed like this,” Ann said.
The first of the break-ins occurred on 3rd July, followed by another on 4th August and a third on 10th August. The attempted break-ins happened at the end of June and then again on 2nd August.
Ann added: “There’s no money on site so the cost to us is in replacing items and repairing damaged locks and cupboards that have been smashed open. They break into the church and from there they get access to the Bear Pit. The repairs will have to come out of our funds which we were going to use to replace the heating in the church in the autumn, but we might have to change that plan now.
“These break-ins impact everything we do in running the church.”
She and her fellow churchgoers think the thieves scaled an outside wall at the back of the building and forced open a window to get inside.
Another cost that will be incurred is the installation of CCTV cameras outside the building.
All of the incidents have been reported to police.
“We try to be involved with the community as much as we can, but this sort of thing has left all of us feeling very disappointed and shocked,” said Ann.
The Bear Pit Theatre chairman, Simon Allen, said: “It’s disgusting. They are randomly trying to get anything. This is not juveniles, this is people who are forcefully breaking in. We can claim back off the insurance but just what do you do? We are going to have to keep everything of value off site. The thieves haven’t touched the hotel side of our building but that’s lit and is where there’s CCTV in the car park. They haven’t touched the actual theatre – they want anything they can realise money from. As regards to the performances, we hope to be rehearsing soon.”
A spokesperson for Warwickshire Police said: “We have received reports of break-ins at the United Reformed Church in recent months.
“Officers have been investigating these incidents and anyone with information is asked to call 101, quoting Crime Reference: 23/33045/22.”
A spate of church break-ins took place earlier in the year when the Methodist Church was targeted four times and thieves also attempted to break into Holy Trinity Church in February and March.
