Some of Britain’s historical artefacts are at risk of being lost forever amid a rising wave of heritage crime, a senior police officer has warned.
Assistant Chief Constable Rachel Nolan told the Telegraph that thieves are increasingly targeting churches and other historic sites around the UK, confident they can steal valuables or raw materials undetected amid shrinking congregations and waning interest in local historical sites.
Nolan, who was appointed national policing lead on heritage crime two years ago, said that police receive very little intelligence about crimes against historic buildings and monuments, in contrast to other crimes such as antisocial behaviour.
She warned that public "antipathy” towards the protection of heritage assets is worsening the problem and said that the scale of heritage crime is hard to judge because it is often unreported.
A total of 16 churches were targeted by thieves in July and previous research has found that nearly 20% of listed buildings were physically affected by crime in the space of a year.
“I think the thing to remember with heritage crime is that some of the things that are targeted are literally priceless,” she said.
“I think we should not necessarily judge the individual objects, just looking at how we can protect them and keep the country’s stories alive.”