Seaham church lead thief jailed for five months
Oct 21 2008 by Neil Mckay, The Journal
A THIEF was beginning a five-month jail sentence yesterday for his part in stripping thousands of pounds worth of lead from a church roof.
Lee Anthony Everist was part of a gang that stripped a newly re-roofed church of £20,000 worth of lead. It had taken the congregation of St John’s Church, Seaham, County Durham, 10 years to raise more than £100,000 for the roof repairs – and Everist and his pals just 48 hours to wreck their fundraising efforts.
After countless jumble sales, pie and pea suppers, Christmas fairs and fund- raising lunches, St John’s parishioners held a ceremony in April to mark the completion of the repair work to the seaside town’s parish church.
But just days later, intruders climbed the roof of the Grade II-listed building and stripped the joints of lead, ripping away £20,000 worth of the metal over four nights in the hope of selling it on for scrap.
Yesterday Recorder Ian Atherton, presiding at Durham Crown Court, sentenced Everist, 22, of Fern Crescent, Seaham, for what he described as “quite a horrendous crime in social terms”.
Everist had admitted at a court hearing last month to stealing the lead.
He had a previous conviction for a similar offence. The court was told his blood had been found on a roof tile.
The theft, between April 21 and 25, was one of a spate carried out in Seaham over that period.
Everist’s co-accused Andrew Thomas Veitch, 23, of AJ Cook Terrace, Shotton Colliery, near Peterlee, admitted stealing lead valued at £4,523 from the Market Hall in Seaham, just yards from the church. He was sentenced to four months in jail, suspended for one year.
Increased demand for lead on the international markets has seen the commodity’s price rise sevenfold in the last six years.
Chris Pitt, from the specialist church insurers Ecclesiastical, said: “Worldwide demand for metal is fuelling this epidemic.”
He said local eyes and ears could be the most effective protection against thieves.
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