Church roof gang jailed for total of more than 22 years

Four men have been jailed for a combined total of 22 years and seven months for the theft of lead from churches across the country.

The four defendants stripped tonnes of lead from a mixture of Grade I and Grade II churches between May 2018 and March 2020 – costing 36 churches a combined total of almost £2.1million. The amount the defendants would have made from scrapping the lead would have been much lower than the cost to the churches.

All four men previously pleaded guilty to a total of 36 offences and have today (Wednesday) been sentenced at Lincoln Crown Court.