Parishioners pay the price for Hunts lead thefts

I NOTE the warning given to churches in last week’s Hunts Post about metal thieves.

Earlier this year Somersham Parish Church had several square metres of lead stripped from the roof of the north aisle by metal thieves. The cost of replacing the lead is in excess of �7,000, a substantial amount of which was not covered by insurance.

The thieves who it is believed committed this crime were caught by the police after attempting to steal lead from the roof of another church. They were sentenced to a few weeks in prison, housed and fed at the taxpayers’ expense before being released, probably to continue their criminal activities.

Well done the police for catching the thieves, but when are the courts going to take these matters seriously and impose sentences that hit these burglars in their pockets by imposing heavy fines or seizing their vehicles or other possessions and making them do community service that forces them to carry out some useful work in the locality?

Now the churchgoers of Somersham are faced with the daunting task of raising money so that the roof can be repaired.

ALAN DRAPER

St John the Baptist Church

Somersham