Thieves steal silverware from St Edmund’s Church in Shipston

The church windows were also damaged during the incident.

PC Craig Purcell, of Shipston Police Safer Neighbourhood Team, was on duty at the time of the incident but did not see it take place.

CCTV cameras were not focused on the church at the time of the burglary but PC Purcell spent hours searching through the footage to find a grainy image of a suspect.

After a thorough search of the area, PC Purcell found a blood stained tissue in a recycling bin. He later discovered a blue plastic bag containing some of the stolen items after crawling under parked vehicles.

The recovered items have been submitted for forensic work and Shipston Police officers are still working on town centre CCTV with the help of local shop owners.

If you have any information call 01789 444670.