CHURCHES across the Wellington and West Somerset areas have been put on alert after lead thieves struck in a village for the second time in about three years.
This time the thieves escaped with only a small amount of lead sheeting, said to be enough to cover the roof a garden shed.
But it allowed heavy rain brought by last weekend’s Storm Bert to pour into the tower of the Church of St Michael, in Milverton, and cause damage to historical items and the building’s electrical circuits.
The electrical damage also stopped the grade one listed church’s clock and its organ from working.
Milverton vicar the Rev Helene Stainer said the lead theft was discovered when she noticed service books were curling up and on checking found they were damp.
Other items of historic interest which were kept in the vestry had also been drenched and were now being dried on a radiator.
Ms Stainer said fortunately the church’s records of births, marriages, and deaths were kept in her safe and so were protected from the rain.
She said the crime could have happened on any sunny day before the weekend because such thefts were usually only discovered when it rained.
After the previous theft the church replaced the lead roofing sheets and drainpipes and took the precaution of covering them with indelible white paint.
Ms Stainer, who admitted to ‘feeling angry’, said: “So, the perpetrators will have permanently marked white clothing.
“We have notified all the other churches in the area and the archdeacon, so people are looking out.
“If anybody has noticed any strange behaviour around the parish church or has noticed an unhealthy interest in the price of lead in recent weeks, the police and ourselves would love to know more.”
Ms Stainer said the electrics had since been repaired and the tower clock was working again.
Four years ago, an organised gang of lead thieves struck at 11 Bath and Wells Diocese churches in Somerset in a period of a month, with one being targeted twice in 12 days, with the total cost of repairs put at £445,000.