AN investigation into lead theft and crimes reported at churches in Britain has found 128 crimes were reported across Essex over the last year.

The investigation was launched by the Countryside Alliance after it received complaints from members who were concerned that nothing was being done to raise awareness of lead theft in rural areas.

The figures come one year on from the group’s previous report which found 442 crimes recorded in the county in just under three years.

After submitting a Freedom of Information Act request to Essex Police, the rural campaigning group found churches across the county are not only being targeted for their lead, but that there were also other crimes including vandalism and assault.

The Essex total includes 78 thefts, 43 cases of criminal damage and seven of violence from July 2019 to September 2020 – a time period including the national lockdown.

The report comes after thieves took advantage of the lockdown in June to steal lead from the roof of Halstead’s United Reformed Church – a crime used by the group to highlight the problem.

Across the UK, 5,831 crimes have been reported at churches and religious buildings, after 40 of 45 UK police forces responded to the FOI request from the Countryside Alliance.

This includes a staggering 946 cases of violence, 1,750 of criminal damage and 2,152 of thefts of which, 278 relate to lead and other metal theft.

Sarah Lee, of the Countryside Alliance, said “Taking into account that during some of this year the country was in lockdown, it is chilling to learn that criminals either acting alone or in gangs have taken advantage of this awful pandemic and continued to target churches.

“Of course, people need to have open access to our religious sanctuaries, but the warnings from last year backed up by these latest figures must be heeded if we are to seriously protect our places of worship.

“We need to ramp up access to a greater amount of funding from the protective security scheme and ensure the scheme remains available going forward. It will also require greater vigilance from the public, particularly in rural areas.”