Church staff have spoken out about their battles with thieves, after Islington Now last week revealed that a mystery man repeatedly tried to steal from the poor box at St John the Evangelist’s church.
The donations box at St James Clerkenwell has been broken into on several occasions, despite having reinforced door locks.
A vicar was also personally targeted when his laptop was grabbed by a young couple claiming to be looking around the church.
Reverend Andrew Baughen said: “I had my laptop stolen in a grab and run incident. The couple looked innocent and said they wanted to look round but were clearly professional thieves. Theft from churches is an ongoing problem. Our donations box has been broken into and we’ve had other attempted thefts even though we have magnetic security locks on our doors and a staffed office at the church during the week.”
St Jude and St Paul’s in Mildmay Grove has also been targeted. Reverend Dr Justus Omoyajowo said that lead had been stolen from the roof of the church: “About two metres of lead was stripped from the south side roof in early October [2011] and thieves were disturbed three weeks later trying to take the rest of it.
Shirley Duggan, church warden at St Mark’s in Myddleton Square, blamed the recession for the rising level of crime in churches. She said: “The more churches are open, the more vulnerable they become. With the current economic crisis there is an increase in opportunist theft. We have had a couple of attempted thefts– but their efforts have been fruitless because we don’t keep money on the premises.”
Reverend Simon Harvey from St Mary’s Church in Upper Street said that although they have been “lucky in comparison” to other churches, it is still essential that they keep their doors open.
He said: “There have been a few incidents. We have had some minor damage, and someone climbed through a window a couple of years ago. On another occasion someone pinched a flower stand.”
He added: “Despite this I think it’s good that churches remain open, because that is what we are there for. We are meant to be available to people, and as long as we are sensible with the risks, then we should be able to provide our services to people and be risk free.”
