27/10/2009 - Amateur sleuths miss burglary signs
Amateur "detectives" will be the subject of an unusual property insurance claim after eight guests at a murder mystery party didn't notice that the church they were using had been robbed.
The Elim Pentecostal church, Yeovil, had been the location for the party which saw would-be sleuths search for clues to a fictional murder - however the group failed to notice the church had been broken into the night before.
The vicar, Reverend Howard Davenport, only found out when he opened the church for a Sunday service that a laptop computer, a large TV and the contents of a safe had been stolen.
A week before the burglary, Rev Davenport's car had been smashed by vandals as it was parked outside the church.
He said: "We were obviously disappointed that the church had been targeted twice in a week, but when I heard that it hadn't even been noticed I had to smile. You'd have thought that eight wannabe detectives might have noticed a real crime a few metres from them only hours earlier."
Last week the church raised more than £300 from a fundraiser for Teen Challenge, a Christian charity that helps people with drug and alcohol problems who often get caught up in crime.
Copyright © Press Association 2009
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