Crime in British сhurches reaches ten offenses a day – study

Perpetrators smashed a Victorian stained glass window to break into the church. Photo: BBC

In 2025, nearly 4,000 crimes were committed on the grounds of churches and other religious sites in the United Kingdom. According to a study by the Countryside Alliance, based on requests sent to 45 territorial police forces, the country sees more than ten such incidents on average every day.

The statistics reveal a deepening security crisis at sacred sites. During the reporting period, law enforcement recorded 3,809 offenses, including theft, break-ins, vandalism, and assault. The most dangerous areas were London, with 531 crimes, and West Yorkshire, with 445.

What is especially alarming is the nature of these offenses. Of the total number of recorded incidents, 1,000 involved acts of violence against people, while more than another 1,000 concerned deliberate property damage, arson, and desecration of holy places. In one case, at St. James’s Church in Leyland, vandals covered both the building and nearly 40 gravestones in the churchyard with blasphemous graffiti reading, “God is a lie.” In another, at the parish of St. Margaret of Antioch, burglars stole antique church silver – including chalices and communion plates – worth £25,000.

The situation is made worse by the fact that the real numbers may be significantly higher. Several police forces, including Police Scotland and Hampshire Police, declined to provide data on crimes at churches.

Countryside Alliance director Mo Metcalf-Fisher said churches have become “easy targets” for criminals. He also pointed to what he described as a systemic failure in government policy: while crime is rising, funding for church protection is being cut. This year, the British government imposed VAT on church repairs and declined to index security grants to inflation.

Political opponents of the government have already called the situation “a failure of the policing model.” Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey described it as scandalous, saying that “the government has fallen asleep at the wheel,” turning sacred spaces into a “playground for criminals.”

Earlier, the UOJ reported that the King of the United Kingdom declined to deliver an Easter message.

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