Churches ‘engulfed by new crimewave’

CHURCHES risk being ‘ engulfed by a crimewave’, according to campaigners, with more t han 5,000 offences recorded last year.

Despite the four-month coronavirus lockdown, incidents including cases of rape, arson and drug trafficking were recorded in the 12 months to July this year.

The figures were provided by the Countryside Alliance to focus attention on rural churches and aid calls for increased funding for security at places of worship. Branding the figures as ‘ horrific reading’, Mo Metcalf-Fisher of the Countryside Alliance said: ‘We cannot risk being engulfed by a church crimewave and clearly more needs to be done to tackle this problem.

‘Criminals have taken advantage of this awful pandemic and continued to target rural churches.’