Gang who stole lead from churches jailed

Four men who stole lead from more than 20 remote country churches across England have been jailed.

Paul Buica, Constantin Motescu, Luarentiu Sucea and Mihai Birtu targeted the churches, from Dorset to Yorkshire, between 2018 and 2020.

The affected buildings faced a combined repair bill of more than £2m, Lincoln Crown Court was told.

A vicar said the thieves had "desecrated" his church for "a few pounds worth of lead".

Michael Cranmer-Brown, prosecuting, told the court that some of the churches targeted were "many centuries old and Grade I-listed".

"They are the epicentre of the local community," he said. "Most of the churches had limited insurance or none at all."

The Rev Stuart Grant, vicar of St Peter's Langtoft in East Yorkshire, said he was "grateful" the men had been brought to justice.

His church was forced to carry out £30,000 worth of repairs after the gang stripped lead from its roof in September 2019, causing rain damage to the building and its contents.

"I think it is the fact that they will just come in and desecrate a monument that's been there for 800 or 1,000 years," he said.

"All that history and it means nothing to them for a few pounds worth of lead."

Mr Cranmer-Brown said St Nicolas Church in Normanton, Lincolnshire, was left with a repair bill of £150,00 to £200,000 with no insurance to pay for the damage.

Judge Sjölin Knight described the gang as "sophisticated, persistent and organised".

"Those loses fall on the parish. Small congregations struggle to pay the cost," she said.

"These were very serious theft offences, not because of the lead you took but by the nature of the buildings targeted."

All four men admitted multiple counts of theft at an earlier hearing.

Motescu, 32, of Sutton Hill, Telford, and Sucea, 38, of George Street, Birmingham, were both jailed for six years and six months.

Buica, 25, of George Street, Birmingham, was jailed for six years, and 24-year-old Birtu, of Port Street, Evesham, was jailed for 43 months.

Follow BBC East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk.