Thieves strip church bare of metals

A DERELICT 19th-Century church has been stripped bare in the latest in a series of scrap metal raids.

St
Kevin's Church in Shanakiel, Co Cork, has had all its copper and lead
torn out by a gang scavenging metals which have soared in value during
the recession.

The
thieves even tore off limestone capping to get at old lead plating used
to protect the church walls from rain and damp -- and attempted to
steal metal from its bell tower.

Lead seals were also stripped from its glass windows which had been smashed by vandals some time ago.

The
soaring price of commodity metals -- copper alone has increased by 50pc
in price in just over two years -- has sparked a nationwide blitz in
such robberies.

Such is the damage caused to St Kevin's by thieves and vandals that there are fears the listed structure may now be at risk.

Gardai
admitted that the spiral in scrap thefts has been underpinned by
soaring metal prices on world commodity markets -- with the thefts and
resultant damage running to millions of euro over recent years.

The price of copper has soared from €4,200 per metric ton in 2008 to €6,500 a metric ton earlier this year.

Lead
has similarly soared from €115 per kilo in 2008 to €195 per kilo this
year while aluminium has gone from €1,215 per metric ton back in 2008 to
€1,735 a metric ton this year.

Metal commodity dealers believe
that prices will continue to soar given the ongoing uncertainty on
global stock markets. 

Gardai acknowledged that the spiralling value of
scrap metal has made such thefts vastly more profitable for gangs who
sell the metal on to the black market for scrap in Ireland and the UK.

"Five
years ago no one would have bothered with copper cylinders. Now we have
even had them being cut out and removed from houses as part of
burglaries," a garda source said.

Source