Thieves steal valuable silver from empty church
Mar 21 2008 by Ben Guy, The Journal
OPPORTUNIST thieves took advantage of a lapse in church security to steal a silver ornament that is regularly used in services.
The silver belonging to St John’s Church, in Snods Edge, Northumberland, is normally locked away when the church is unattended, but last week a silver ciborium was left out by accident and stolen.
The item would have been used in the Easter Sunday service at the church this weekend, and the Rev David Wood appealed for its return.
He said: “It is sad more than anything that people would take something from a church. I speak more in sorrow than in anger that people feel they can take things.
“It is not something that can be sold on, so the main value will be as scrap silver – but that won’t fetch anything near what it is worth.
“The value of things like this comes from the craftsmanship that has gone into making it.”
The ciborium dates back to about the 1930s and has spent most, if not all, of its life in the church.
The Rev Wood said it was probably worth between £800 and £900.
He said: “We normally lock the silver away, but for some reason it was left on the stone table by the alter – it was just one of those silly oversights that sometimes happen.
“We feel that it is important to have the church open all the time, and that is something that is never normally abused.
“The assumption that we can make is that somebody has been into the church and removed it.
“You have to take responsibility for putting temptation in someone’s way – it is in sorrow that I am upset.”
The ciborium is used to hold the bread during the Eucharist in services at the church, which is on the Northumberland and Durham border and has congregations that regularly exceed 50 people.
A police spokesman said: “We are appealing for information after the silver ciborium was stolen from St John’s Church at Snods Edge.
“It happened some time between 8pm on Tuesday, March 11, and Sunday morning, March 16.”
Anyone with information about the chalice’s whereabouts is asked to contact Sgt Mick Quinn or DS Gary Temperley at Prudhoe CID on 0845 604-3043.
