Theft of church's saint statue 'bizarre' - vicar

A vicar has described the theft of a 99-year-old statue of St Cuthbert as "bizarre" after the item was taken from a church in West Yorkshire.

The 2ft (60cm) statue of the Northumbrian saint was stolen from St Mary's in Oxenhope sometime between 09:00 BST on 31 August and 17:00 on 1 September, according to the Reverend Denise Hayes.

Rev Hayes, who has been at the parish for 18 months and was previously a chaplain at HMP New Hall in Wakefield, said she had not expected to be impacted by crime at the Oxenhope church.

"It's just the most bizarre thing I've ever dealt with, because I just can't understand," she said.

"There's nothing else touched, there's no mess."

She added: "It wasn't even the first statue that they would have come to, it's not small and it's not light because it's made of oak."

The church noticed the statue had gone missing on 2 September, with the theft reported to police.

The vicar said the church's statues, which also include figures of St Mary and St Hilda, had been made for the church in 1927 and are a key part of the building's heritage.

"The carved figures were made for St Mary's and they mean a lot to our worshipping community - people are deeply saddened by the theft," she said.

"This is the first time anything has been taken, and for me the saddest part is the effect it has had on our older church members."

Rev Hayes said the congregation at Oxenhope was "slightly different" to those at HMP New Hall, but added she had met some "lovely people" in the prison who had "made the wrong choices and need a way back".

She extended the same grace to whoever had taken the church's statue and said it was most likely a "thoughtless act".

"We can all make wrong choices without thinking about the consequences of our actions," she said.

"They can bring it back anytime, you can just put it inside St Mary's and that's it."

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