A CHARITY box was stolen from Kingsbridge Methodist Church last weekend, in the latest in a series of similar crimes committed in recent months.

The local circuit of methodist churches adopt a different charity to support each year, and they are currently raising money for Dartmoor Search and Rescue Team in Ashburton.

The box was chained to a wall in the foyer - the thieves unpicked the chain and pinched the box.

Sally Sargeant, senior steward at the church described the thief as: ‘lowest of the low. Every year, our circuit of churches choose a charity for which to donate, with alternate years being national and local charities. The thief must have come in here while the church was open and stolen the box from the wall.

‘The money is a minor detail, it’s the fact that they came into a church and stole a box from such a worthwhile charity. It’s not so much the impact on the church but on the charity. If they got lost on Dartmoor, they’d be jolly glad for Search and Rescue to come and look for them.’