Lead theft sting most successful ever

Since Audlem Online published this photo of Audlem St James’ church roof a month ago, we can reveal exclusively that over thirty arrests of metal thieves attempting to strip lead off the roof have resulted.

Unknown to the thieves, highly sensitive cameras detect anyone on the roof and alert the village and police by clanging the church bells at least once every fifteen minutes.

Lawyers are thought to be questioning whether publishing this photograph, and the coincidental placing of a ladder providing access to the roof, jointly constitutes entrapment.

This, they argue, is an abuse of the lead thieves’ rights under European Human Rights legislation as the authorities would have known the temptation to innocent thieves, simply passing through the village, would be irresistible. 

Despite this threat, the police have asked us to show the photo on the first day of this month to see whether their arrest record of thirty can be improved in April. We are delighted to agree to this request.

This article is from our news archive. As a result pictures or videos originally associated with it may have been removed and some of the content may no longer be accurate or relevant.