Church 'heartbroken' after theft on Easter Sunday

Members of a church said they have been left "heartbroken" after their building was broken into in the early hours of Easter Sunday and £50,000 worth of damage was caused.

The Elim Pentecostal Church in Laindon, Essex, also had tools stolen from its site during the break-in, said Daniel Berkoh-Gyamfi, the leader of Salvation Chapel International in Pitsea, Essex.

He said that between July and November the church had been set on fire and vandalised, adding: "It's very demoralising, knowing that we are just pursuing a noble cause in serving our local community - getting to know each other."

Essex Police has been contacted for comment.

"Instead of sharing love, it's like they want to sow a seed of discontent and resentment," Berkoh-Gyamfi said.

During one of the previous break-ins someone had left racist language spray painted all over the wall of the church, Berkoh-Gyamfi said.

He added: "We are having to spend money on doing the building... we haven't got such money lying anywhere."

Following an Freedom of Information request, the charity Countryside Alliance revealed that in 2025 nearly 4,000 crimes were committed on church property as well as other religious premises.

Martin Stuchfield, the chairman of Friends of Essex Churches Trust, said: "It's [theft] on an epidemic scale, because there isn't the respect for the church building that there once was."

While speaking to Ben Fryer, BBC Essex's presenter, Stuchfield said he thought the thefts were "despicable".

"Churches lie at the heart of communities - they are valued by people.

"I'm afraid to say, that they are soft targets."

Mo Metcalf-Fisher, the director of external affairs at the Countryside Alliance, also spoke to the BBC and said the most common thefts were lead, but also metal collection tins and ornaments.

"Once a lot of the artefacts are stolen, you just don't get them back," he said.

Deputy Chief Constable Rachel Nolan, National Police Chiefs' Council lead for heritage crime, said: "Crimes impacting churches are one of the most common reports impacting our heritage."

Nolan encouraged people to report suspicious activity around churches or around unusual metal or stone that may have come from a church or heritage site.

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