Latest news with #ChristChurchLuton
Telegraph
29-05-2025
- General
- Telegraph
Stolen First World War plaque found in scrapyard
A stolen First World War memorial plaque has been discovered in a scrapyard in Essex. Two 100-year-old metal plaques, which contain the names of dozens of soldiers killed in the war, were stolen last Friday from Christ Church Luton, in Chatham, Kent. Jonathan Pout, the head gardener, noticed they had been unbolted from the wall on May 24, prompting fears they were to be sold as scrap metal and could be destroyed. Police have now recovered one of the historic pieces from a scrapyard and arrested seven men, although the other plaque is still missing. It took four officers to carry the stolen plaque back to the church. A spokesman for Kent Police said on Thursday: 'Two initial suspects, aged 26 and 25 years, from Dartford, were swiftly tracked down following the recovery of the plaque from an Essex scrapyard on Wednesday. 'Five further men from the Medway area, aged between 22 years and 51 years, were subsequently arrested and remain in custody.' Pc Alanya Spiller said: 'We received a call about the location of the stolen property and patrols were immediately deployed across the Dartford Crossing. 'We are still seeking the other plaque and urge anyone who may be able to assist to contact us. This includes residents with private CCTV and motorists with dashcam who may have relevant footage.' The Rev Andrea Leonard, 65, the vicar of Christ Church Luton, said some members of the congregation had been emotional after discovering that the plaques outside the church were missing. She said: 'It's part of the church, it's part of the community, and in a way it's part of people's relatives. 'People say 'Oh my great uncle was on that list' and people recognise the names on there. 'If the church had been broken into and a computer stolen I'd have said 'Oh, we can get another one'. 'But this is desecration. It's horrible. The fact that someone can have that lack of respect for people that gave everything for us to be free is just shocking.' The vicar is now urging thieves to 'do the right thing' and return the second plaque to the church. She said: 'I have been with the police for the last half hour and they have been looking at the CCTV. 'It's just amazing what the police have done. They have told me they are on the hunt for the second plaque and they are still very much hoping it will be found – but the suspects may have been able to sell it. 'We are still hoping someone will do the right thing and the second one will be found as well. If the second plaque is not recovered, they would be replaced with replicas made of less valuable materials.
BBC News
29-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Arrest as Chatham church's WW1 plaque found at Essex scrapyard
Two men have been arrested following the theft of two WW1 plaques from a Kent war memorial, police have military memorial plaques disappeared from the grounds of Christ Church Luton in Chatham between 22:00 BST on Friday and 10:00 on Police said one of the plaques was recovered from a scrapyard in Essex on force said it has arrested a 26-year-old man and a 25-year-old man, both from the Dartford area. Christ Church Luton's priest in charge, the Reverend Andrea Leonard, told BBC Radio Kent on Thursday that she remains hopeful the other plaque will be said: "Hats off to the person, who wants to obviously remain anonymous, but who had the integrity to phone the police and say 'I've got something here that you want'."He actually spoke to me and he said he looked at the list and thought 'Those poor lads that gave everything, they don't deserve this'."Kent Police said it is trying to find the second plaque and appealed for anyone with information about the missing plaques to get in touch. The plaques commemorate 163 people from the Chatham area who died in WW1 and each weigh memorial, which has been in place for 105 years, is "priceless" to the parish and relatives of the soldiers, Ms Leonard believes there has not yet been time for the still-missing plaque to be melted down, but that they will find a suitable replacement if they have to as "it just wouldn't be right" to a have a memorial with names missing."It was terrible when we discovered that they were gone," she said. "We just could not believe it because it's not only the church, it's the whole wider community."
Daily Mail
28-05-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
Britain's most callous crooks: Iron thieves hunted by police after stealing two metal military memorial plaques from churchyard
Callous iron theives are being hunted by police after stealing two metal military memorials from a villiage churchyard. Devastated parishioners have been left in tears after the plaques - which held the name of the town's 150 First World War heroes for more than 100 years - were ripped from the wooden gateway. Thieves are said to have carried out the cruel operation under the cover of night, with locals fearing they will be melted down into scrap metal. Jonathan Pout, the head gardener of Christ Church Luton, in Chatham, Kent, was horrified to discover the bare spaces on Saturday, May 24. Now the church is offering a £500 reward for information which leads to their return. A spokesperson for the church said: 'We are beyond sad to announce that our first world war memorials have been stolen from the lychgate. 'For over a hundred years these have been in place, honouring those from this area who gave everything for us to be free. 'If anyone knows anything about this desecration, please do contact us.' They added: 'We have very kindly been offered £500 as a reward for information given which leads to the retrieval of our memorial plaques.' Devastated parishioners have been left in tears after the plaques - which held the name of the town's 150 First World War heroes for more than 100 years - were ripped from the wooden gateway Reverend Andrea Leonard, 65, who has headed up the church since 2015, said the plaques had been taken under the cover of darkness on Friday night. The plaques were secured to the walls with security bolts - leading Reverend Leonard to believe they were stolen by someone who knew what they were doing, as opposed to opportunists. She said: 'There were definitely tears. It's part of the church, it's part of the community, and in a way it's part of people's relatives. 'People say 'oh my great uncle was on that list', and people recognise the names on there. 'If the church had been broken into and a computer stolen I'd have said 'oh, we can get another one'. 'But this is desecration. It's horrible. The fact that someone can have that lack of respect for people that gave everything for us to be free is just shocking.' Following a donation, the church is offering a £500 reward for any information which could lead to recovery of the memorials, which immortalised the names of over 150 army and navy soldiers. Failing recovery, Reverend Leonard says the plaques will be replaced with replicas made of less valuable materials. She said: 'Because we're a military area, we've already had veterans' associations saying that they would help us with fundraising to make replacements that are not worth stealing, made of something different. 'We've got enough photographs as well to have all the names, so that's not going to be an issue, I don't think.' The reverend now believes the plaques are going to be used for scrap metal, and may already be destroyed. She added: 'Initially, after the shock had settled in, people were very angry. The whole community is very angry as well. 'But, as a Christian community we have to respond in a different way - we don't want to make a lynch mob to go out and find someone. 'We've got to work on committing that person to justice. We want to see justice done, but we don't want to be vindictive.'
Telegraph
27-05-2025
- General
- Telegraph
We want justice after First World War plaques stolen, says reverend
A reverend has demanded justice after two metal memorial plaques honouring 150 First World War heroes were stolen from her church. Rev Andrea Leonard, 65, of Christ Church Luton, in Chatham, Kent described 'tears' from congregation members after discovering that the plaques outside the church were missing. The plaques had been there for around 100 years before thieves stole the memorials on Friday night. Jonathan Pout, the head gardener, made the discovery on May 24. Rev Leonard said: 'There were definitely tears. It's part of the church, it's part of the community, and in a way it's part of people's relatives. 'People say 'oh my great uncle was on that list' and people recognise the names on there. 'If the church had been broken into and a computer stolen I'd have said 'oh, we can get another one'. 'But this is desecration. It's horrible. The fact that someone can have that lack of respect for people that gave everything for us to be free is just shocking.' The plaques were secured to the walls with security bolts, leading Rev Leonard to believe that they were stolen by someone who knew what they were doing, as opposed to opportunists. Following a donation, the church is offering a £500 reward for any information that could lead to the recovery of the memorials, which immortalised the names of over 150 army and navy soldiers. If the plaques were not recovered, Rev Leonard said they would be replaced with replicas made of less valuable materials. She said: 'Because we're a military area, we've already had veterans' associations saying that they would help us with fundraising to make replacements that are not worth stealing, made of something different. 'We've got enough photographs as well to have all the names, so that's not going to be an issue, I don't think.' The reverend believes that the plaques are going to be used for scrap metal and may already be destroyed. She added: 'Initially, after the shock had settled in, people were very angry. The whole community is very angry as well. 'But, as a Christian community we have to respond in a different way – we don't want to make a lynch mob to go out and find someone. 'We've got to work on committing that person to justice. We want to see justice done, but we don't want to be vindictive.'
