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Vicar scours CCTV to catch criminals

8:36am Monday 21st January 2008

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A VICAR is hoping to catch criminals who steal from his church in the comfort of his own home.

The Rev Adam Friend, from St Chad's Church, has a state of the art surveillance system which he hopes has captured criminals trying to steal lead from the church roof.

Despite the criminals failing in their attempt to steal the lead more than £8,000 worth of damage was caused and Mr Friend is now trawling through hours of footage.

He said: "We have a security system with 10 CCTV cameras filming 24 hours with special night vision for when it goes dark.

"We have a three day period when it took place so it is now a case of me going through all the footage."

Thanks to new technology does not even have to leave his armchair at home to keep an eye on his church.

He said: "This system is so good that I can watch live footage from any of the cameras by logging onto the Internet at home.

"It is fantastic technology and even though it is expensive it protects the church very well.

"In this case someone removed the lead but didn't manage to steal it, possibly because it was too heavy for them to lift.

"We still have the lead itself but because of the way it is layed it is useless which means we need to have the roof done again which will cost a lot of money and it is money that we can't really afford."

Mr Friend hopes the security system will prevent other people from commiting crime at the church.

He said: "The cameras pick up any movement within 30 metres of the church.

"They are vandal proof and the images are stored on an external hard drive.

"If anyone does commit a crime near the church whether it is a theft or vandalism then they will be caught on camera."

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Nice one, Winsford says...
10:13am Mon 21 Jan 08

LOL Brilliant story. I would love to see the face of the village idiot when he reads this... oops I forgot, he probably can't read. Nice one vicar, if you need help going through the footage I imagine there will be plenty available. Good luck catching him... they deserve all they get for stealing anything from anyone.

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Nice one, Winsford says...
10:13am Mon 21 Jan 08

LOL Brilliant story. I would love to see the face of the village idiot when he reads this... oops I forgot, he probably can't read. Nice one vicar, if you need help going through the footage I imagine there will be plenty available. Good luck catching him... they deserve all they get for stealing anything from anyone.

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Terry, Winsford says...
12:46pm Mon 21 Jan 08

Brilliant! I take my hat off to ya Vicar :) well done!

I have a similar system as well. IP cameras which I can view remotely whilst at work and work on motion detection so they record every bit of movement within the grounds of my house... they are night vision also and the clarity is really good...

expensive, but worth it when you consider the cost of the damage these scum criminals commit

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Terry, Winsford says...
12:46pm Mon 21 Jan 08

Brilliant! I take my hat off to ya Vicar :) well done!

I have a similar system as well. IP cameras which I can view remotely whilst at work and work on motion detection so they record every bit of movement within the grounds of my house... they are night vision also and the clarity is really good...

expensive, but worth it when you consider the cost of the damage these scum criminals commit

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john, says...
1:27pm Mon 21 Jan 08

I thought that god was all seeing maleviolent, ommimportant make believe type-thing. So whats the point in CCTV; will he not burn in hell for stealing the lead? or is that indeed more rubbish. Personally I would turn the church into something useful like a pub.

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john, says...
1:27pm Mon 21 Jan 08

I thought that god was all seeing maleviolent, ommimportant make believe type-thing. So whats the point in CCTV; will he not burn in hell for stealing the lead? or is that indeed more rubbish. Personally I would turn the church into something useful like a pub.

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Terry, Winsford says...
5:48pm Mon 21 Jan 08

Ehhhhhhhhh? what you on about John. you make no (common) sense!

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Terry, Winsford says...
5:48pm Mon 21 Jan 08

Ehhhhhhhhh? what you on about John. you make no (common) sense!

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Denise, Winsford says...
6:37pm Mon 21 Jan 08

The fact that John wants to turn a church into something useful like a pub(?) implies he has no (common) sense. Maybe he is just upset because he is about to star in a cctv show? allegedly...

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Denise, Winsford says...
6:37pm Mon 21 Jan 08

The fact that John wants to turn a church into something useful like a pub(?) implies he has no (common) sense. Maybe he is just upset because he is about to star in a cctv show? allegedly...

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Terry, Winsford says...
8:28pm Mon 21 Jan 08

Yes that figures... Guess it's his anxiety at the prospect of his mug-shot appearing on the Guardian's front pages :-) lol

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Terry, Winsford says...
8:28pm Mon 21 Jan 08

Yes that figures... Guess it's his anxiety at the prospect of his mug-shot appearing on the Guardian's front pages :-) lol

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joyboy, winsford says...
10:52pm Mon 21 Jan 08

john u freak! get a grip. cant believe your opinion was even shown. maybe you should have left your address, an we can all take objects from your property.. . .well

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joyboy, winsford says...
10:52pm Mon 21 Jan 08

john u freak! get a grip. cant believe your opinion was even shown. maybe you should have left your address, an we can all take objects from your property.. . .well

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Crusader, Cheshire says...
8:49am Tue 22 Jan 08

What John was trying to say, some what tongue in cheek, is that he thought that God was everywhere and being a church he thought that there would be no need for cameras as god would snite the theives.

As for turning the Church into a pub..... wouldn't go that far. A sports bar yes.

It's tongue in cheek people. Irony just goes over some peoples heads.

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Crusader, Cheshire says...
8:49am Tue 22 Jan 08

What John was trying to say, some what tongue in cheek, is that he thought that God was everywhere and being a church he thought that there would be no need for cameras as god would snite the theives.

As for turning the Church into a pub..... wouldn't go that far. A sports bar yes.

It's tongue in cheek people. Irony just goes over some peoples heads.

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Derek, Winsford says...
9:13am Tue 22 Jan 08

I think we all got what John was saying about God, it was the ridiculous suggestion at the end that got everyone laughing and made his IQ visible to all. But you do have to question people who still believe in a God even when this happens and the guy gets away without being struck down etc.

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Derek, Winsford says...
9:13am Tue 22 Jan 08

I think we all got what John was saying about God, it was the ridiculous suggestion at the end that got everyone laughing and made his IQ visible to all. But you do have to question people who still believe in a God even when this happens and the guy gets away without being struck down etc.

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Terry, Winsford says...
12:01pm Tue 22 Jan 08

I find it staggering that some of you can generate some humour out of a vicar having to go to extreme extensive lengths to protect beautiful historical public property that low-level evil scum are determined to ruin.

Makes me wonder about the mentality of those seeking to do so in humour...

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Terry, Winsford says...
12:01pm Tue 22 Jan 08

I find it staggering that some of you can generate some humour out of a vicar having to go to extreme extensive lengths to protect beautiful historical public property that low-level evil scum are determined to ruin.

Makes me wonder about the mentality of those seeking to do so in humour...

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Comment, Winsford says...
12:15pm Tue 22 Jan 08

Everyone uses humour at some point ... it doesn't mean that they don't feel bad about what's happened at this Church and it doesn't mean they condone the actions of the culprits.

In this particular instance there are glaring obvious points for humour whether you're Christian, Atheist, Agnostic or whatever.

:-)

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Comment, Winsford says...
12:15pm Tue 22 Jan 08

Everyone uses humour at some point ... it doesn't mean that they don't feel bad about what's happened at this Church and it doesn't mean they condone the actions of the culprits.

In this particular instance there are glaring obvious points for humour whether you're Christian, Atheist, Agnostic or whatever.

:-)

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Derek, Winsford says...
2:07pm Tue 22 Jan 08

If you were referring to my post Terry then I was actually asking a serious question about peoples continuing belief in a God that is never seen to do anything while the world suffers so much?

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Derek, Winsford says...
2:07pm Tue 22 Jan 08

If you were referring to my post Terry then I was actually asking a serious question about peoples continuing belief in a God that is never seen to do anything while the world suffers so much?

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Terry, Winsford says...
5:14pm Tue 22 Jan 08

Oh com'on get real. Never mind religious clap-trap. This is all about the low-life in the community seeking to damage property through stealing hundreds/thousands of pounds worth of lead lining from chruch roofs and the vicar having to shell out on expensive equipment to attempt to nail the scum that commits this.

How can you find humour relative to this cause? perplexing!

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Terry, Winsford says...
5:14pm Tue 22 Jan 08

Oh com'on get real. Never mind religious clap-trap. This is all about the low-life in the community seeking to damage property through stealing hundreds/thousands of pounds worth of lead lining from chruch roofs and the vicar having to shell out on expensive equipment to attempt to nail the scum that commits this.

How can you find humour relative to this cause? perplexing!

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Comment, Winsford says...
6:03pm Tue 22 Jan 08

It's called looking on the bright side of life ..... suggest you watch Life of Brian.

There's also loads of irony in the story ... ironic humour! :-)

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Comment, Winsford says...
6:03pm Tue 22 Jan 08

It's called looking on the bright side of life ..... suggest you watch Life of Brian.

There's also loads of irony in the story ... ironic humour! :-)

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Debbie, Winsford says...
6:57pm Tue 22 Jan 08

Ehhhhhhhhh? what you on about Terry. you make no (common) sense!

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Debbie, Winsford says...
6:57pm Tue 22 Jan 08

Ehhhhhhhhh? what you on about Terry. you make no (common) sense!

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Terry, Winsford says...
1:25pm Wed 23 Jan 08

Perhaps they should have featured the Life of Brian in Winsford then :-)

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Terry, Winsford says...
1:25pm Wed 23 Jan 08

Perhaps they should have featured the Life of Brian in Winsford then :-)

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Brian, Winsford says...
1:52pm Wed 23 Jan 08

Oi! Leave me out of this!

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Brian, Winsford says...
1:52pm Wed 23 Jan 08

Oi! Leave me out of this!

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