Thieves target church heating oil

Congregations are set to be left feeling the cold after thieves stole central heating oil from church tanks.

There are fears delivery tankers are being followed, with thieves returning to the churchyards after nightfall.

St Mary The Virgin Church, Carlton-on-Trent, was the latest to be targeted. A total of 1,000 litres of fuel was taken, enough to see it through Christmas.

The theft was discovered on Tuesday but could have taken place at any time since the Sunday service.

It followed a similar theft at St Laurence’s Church, Norwell, built in the 12th Century, which was hit on October 10-11.

The tanks at both churches were locked with padlocks, which were forced open.

Carlton-on-Trent churchwarden Mrs Val Harrop said: “A church should be a welcoming place to worship. When it’s cold people don’t want to come and you can’t blame them for that.

“I’m disgusted. How could anyone stoop so low? It’s not a very Christian thing to do. The tank was virtually full with 500 litres of central heating oil.

“We thought we were stocked for winter. I am extremely careful how long I leave the heating on for to make it last.

“What they spilt as they stole it would have been enough to keep us going for a while.

“We think the tanker was followed on its delivery. We have warned other churches to be vigilant and hope they are caught red-handed if they try to do it again.”

It is the latest in a series of incidents at St Mary The Virgin, which was built in 1851. Previously its records were burned by thieves who failed to find anything they could steal. In other incidents, a safe was stolen, the copper lightning conductor was taken twice, and the porch was vandalised.

Mrs Elizabeth Jones, churchwarden at St Laurence’s, Norwell, said security had been enhanced.

“They left us 70 litres — enough for a wedding the following weekend but that was all,” she said.

“We had lead taken from the roof last year and are only now having repairs.

“Anything like this has a significant effect on the running of a small village church.”

Inspector Andy Gan, of Newark and Sherwood police, described the thefts as an attack on the communities where they took place.

“Thefts like this tend to become more commonplace with the onset of winter,” he said.

“There are commercially-available products on the market to make tanks better protected from theft and I would recommend that owners of such tanks invest in them.

“As we saw with lead thefts, churches can be vulnerable. These institutions are often the heart of village communities. They can often ill-afford the hundreds of pounds it will take to replace what is taken.”

He urged anyone who sees anything suspicious to report it immediately to police on 101.