A VICAR asked to repair his village church after repeated vandal attacks says the coffers are empty

Vandalism has turned St Paul's Church at Evenwood, Bishop Auckland, into a money pit.

According to the Reverend George Liddle, windows were smashed every week until they were reinforced at great expense. But insurers now refuse to pay for broken panes. Efforts to protect the building and repeated repairs have been made over the years, but matters came to a head this weekend after another spate of damage.

Evenwood Parish Council wrote to Mr Liddle asking him to repair damaged concrete posts for public safety, but he says the small church does not have the money.

"Vandals are smashing the concrete posts around the parish green, and for reasons of public safety the parish council has demanded they are repaired," he said.

"Yet we are a small congregation, as most parish churches are. The bottom line is we are strapped for cash.

"It's a drain on our resources just to keep the grass on the green cut.

"We're on the horns of a dilemma. You can well understand the demands of the parish council, because they're doing their duty in protecting safety, but this is draining our meagre resources."

"We're in the same state as some of the urban priority areas. People have the ideal of the parish - and it is a lovely area - but there are immense problems."

Evenwood beat officer PC Kevin Woodcock said: "They have been smashing up the church for quite a time, but it seems to have become a bit of a game to damage the posts.

"It has been building up over the last couple of weeks and came to a head over the weekend."

Anyone with information about the damage should contact PC Woodcock at Bishop Auckland police station on (01388) 603566