Lead stolen from a Cynon Valley church roof has been seized by South Wales Police and returned to the vicar.
Officers arrested two teenagers in Pontypridd after a member of public noticed a suspicious vehicle and alerted two PCSOs who were on patrol in nearby Ynysangharad Park.
The males aged 17 and 18 claimed they had run out of petrol but Pcsos Lynne Meacham and Lisa Jones discovered around 200 kilos of lead in the laden down blue Volkwagen Polo. The duo were taken into custody and admitted the lead was from St Elvan’s Church in Aberdare.
The males aged 17 and 18 claimed they had run out of petrol but Pcsos Lynne Meacham and Lisa Jones discovered around 200 kilos of lead in the laden down blue Volkwagen Polo. The duo were taken into custody and admitted the lead was from St Elvan’s Church in Aberdare.
Inspector Lee Porter, head of Neighbourhood Policing in Taff, said: “Metal theft is not a victimless crime and stealing from a church, which provides refuge and comfort to the community, is particularly despicable.
“The congregation of this church would have experienced real problems in the forthcoming autumn period and the subsequent repairs would no doubt have been costly.
“I am thrilled that we were able to recover the lead and return it to Father Robert Davies at St Elvan’s Church.
“Hopefully the two offenders, who had no previous convictions, have seen the error of their ways and will not commit further crime.”
The 17-year-old was given a reprimand for the incident and no further action was taken against the 18-year-old.
This comes just days after police in Rhondda Cynon Taff carried out an operation to tackle metal thefts seizing eight tonne of scrap metal in just one day.
Included in the seizure were beer kegs, two RCT drain covers, a British Telecom lamppost, DVLA wheel clamps, and a large amount of National Grid and Network Rail cable.
