Child of 7 made to help in tunnel raid on church

Youngster traumatised after thief forced him to help raid Blackford Parish Church

A seven-year-old child was made to crawl through a subterranean tunnel to clear the way for a raid on Blackford Parish Church.

Modern-day Fagin Andrew Park forced the youngster to scrabble through the dirt and open a trapdoor into the church in February.

Park then ransacked the building, leaving a trail of destruction and stealing thousands of pounds-worth of metal items. Dundee Sheriff Court heard yesterday how the child has been left traumatised by the experience.

Park, 34, from Aberuthven, pled guilty to exposing the youngster to danger and breaking into and stealing from the kirk. He will be sentenced for the Blackford crimes, as well as a string of others across Scotland, in June. The church was closed indefinitely after the raid.

A housebreaker persuaded a child to crawl through a tunnel to break through the trapdoor of a Perthshire church during a nationwide crime spree.

Andrew Park “induced” a child in his care to enter a tunnel and carry out a crime at Blackford Parish Church in February.

The child, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was seven years old at the time of the crime.

The court heard the child now suffers from a fear of the dark and other behavioural problems as a result of being asked to squeeze through the dark tunnel.

Park pleaded guilty to breaking into Blackford Parish Church, stealing metal clamps, bells, crockery and overturning the church pulpit in February.

The church was closed indefinitely after the ransacking and suffered further disruption after asbestos was found in the building in March.

Worshippers were turned away from the 19th-Century building the Sunday after the raid when they arrived for their morning service.

The items stolen from the church had a value of more than £2,000, and parish minister the Rev Mairi Perkins said she was left “in tears” after discovering the kirk had been damaged.

Seasoned housebreaker Park was caught in the Highlands after going on a Scotland-wide crime spree with partner Louise Coburn, which saw him break into locked sheds, boats and a hotel.

Park had originally appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court on petition, before being committed for further examination and remanded.

The court heard Park, of Aberuthven, pleaded guilty at the first diet and admitted when being interviewed by the police that he got the young child to crawl through the tunnel and steal the items.

Park also pleaded guilty to breaking into a shed and stealing a number of items, forcing open a locked boat and stealing items. He also admitted to breaking into the Smoo Cave Hotel in Durness and stealing an iPod, an iPad, money, a meat cleaver, photographs, cables and a card machine over two days in Sutherland in the north of Scotland.

He also admitted a charge of exposing a child to unnecessary suffering, two charges of theft by housebreaking, one of attempted theft by housebreaking, and a charge of forcing open a lock fast place, all between February 4 and 8.

Coburn, Park’s partner at the time, admitted two charges of reset – one involving stolen items from the hotel, and a second of having stolen items from the church at her home address

Sheriff Alastair Carmichael adjourned the case until June 6 for criminal and social work reports, and Park was remanded in custody until then.

Coburn was released on bail and ordered to appear at Dundee Sheriff Court on the same date.

Blackford Parish Church has now closed indefinitely.

Louise Coburn was released on bail.