MAN FOUND GUILTY OF CHURCH LEAD THEFT ACROSS SWATH OF ENGLAND

[A MAN has been given a 24 month community order for his involvement in lead theft from 15 churches across six counties, ranging from Lincolnshire to Wiltshire.

Madalin Gabriel Prundaru, of Ilford, had denied 18 lead theft charges, but following a trial at Lincoln Crown Court a jury found him guilty of all 18 charges after deliberating for over four hours. The trial ran from 20-24 March. He was sentenced on 28 April.

He was part of a group of three of which two others have been previously jailed. All the offences took place during a spate of attacks between May and August 2016, which caused damage estimated at £461,000

Four churches were targeted in Lincolnshire: St Nicholas’s Church in Walcot, which fell victim to thieves twice in late August 2016, St Botolph's in Newton and The Church of St Denys in Kirkby la Thorpe, along with St Andrew’s Church at Witham on the Hill.

A further four churches in Leicestershire fell victim to the raids: St Mary’s at Wyfordby, St Mary’s at Garthorpe, All Saints Church in Beeby and St Peter and Paul’s Church at Sywell, which was struck twice.

The list also included two churches in Oxfordshire – St Andrew’s in Kingham and St Giles’s at Wigginton – two in Northamptonshire –St Margaret’s at Luddington, which was struck twice, and St Andrew’s at Cotterstock – and St Nicholas’s Church in Fyfield, Wiltshire.

Even two churches in the tiny county of Rutland were targeted: St Mary’s at Manton and St Edmund’s at Egleton. q

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