Thugs wreck £250k organ in church raid

the people who would perpetrate such an outrage are small in number and in no way represent the vast majority in our community who want to live in peace and harmony.”

Archdeacon of Derry Robert Miller said the lady parishioner who discovered the vandalism on Tuesday was deeply upset.

He added: “We believe those responsible broke into the church through one of the stained glass windows and then smashed a panel behind the organ where its inner workings are housed.

“They climbed in behind the organ and used broken glass, probably from bottles of altar wine which they had smashed, to cut parts of the mechanism which makes the organ work.

The Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council Maoliosa Mchugh visited the church yesterday and described the incident as a despicable act of wanton destruction.

The Sinn Fein councillor added: “It is disgusting that anyone would want to vandalise and destroy a church in this manner and my heart goes out to the local community who are directly affected by this.”

The Catholic Bishop of Derry Dr Donal Mckeown, from the neighbouring St Eugene’s Cathedral, also visited the church yesterday.

He said: “It is impossible for most of us to understand how someone can possible do something like this, to wreck a church.

“There is a real sense of sadness at what has happened there this week and amazement that someone could do this.”