WALES: WINDOW VANDAL SLAMMED BY VICAR

WINDOW VANDAL SLAMMED BY VICAR

A Burglar who pocketed less than £2.50 from a church break-in caused damage almost 1,000 times that to a stained glass window.

Anthony Rhodes smashed the ornate window at St David's Church in Penllergaer while he was high on drugs. He went on to steal just £2.40, but left the church with a repair bill of over £2,300.

The attack outraged parishioners of St David's Church and the vicar has condemned it as desecration.

The stained glass Suffer Little Children panel, paid for by relatives of a former parishioner, was shattered using a pole.

It will cost £2,334 to replace, Swansea magistrates heard.

Prosecutor Ellie Morgan told the court the Rev Alan Bayes discovered the damage to the church on June 18.

She said: "He considers this damage to be total desecration of the church, which offends him.

"He says he particularly feels for the family who gave the stained glass window to the church."

Rhodes was warned he could be facing a jail sentence when he appeared before the court yesterday to admit burglary.

The magistrates adjourned sentence to October 29 for the preparation of a probation report which is to examine all sentencing options including custody.

The prosecutor told how the vicar had discovered the two vestries at the church in disarray, both having been subjected to a search.

A gazebo pole which was kept in the cellar was found inside the church.

The window was installed in 1963 and after the attack glass littered the floor and seats in the church.

A coin counting machine had been smashed open and £2.40 in cash was stolen.

Police found fingerprints on the pole and on the cash machine and these matched those of Rhodes.

The prosecutor told the court: "He said he was extremely drugged up at the time, having been using heroin."

Rhodes, aged 34, of Cleverston Park, Llangennech, Llanelli, admitted the burglary.

His solicitor, Gail Evans, said the father-of-three had an entrenched heroin addiction, but he is now completely free of drugs and has a job for the first time in eight years.

She said of the burglary: "The church and parishioners are very aggrieved by this.

"Perhaps the best way of dealing with this is to ensure that he pays for the replacement of that window by way of compensation."

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