POLICE are investigating a church burglary in which a safe containing a marital register and blank marriage certificates was stolen.
There are fears that the marriage certificates stolen from Dipton Methodist Church, near Stanley, County Durham, could be used to commit fraud.
The break-in, at the church in Dipton's Front Street, was discovered on Sunday afternoon, when a resident alerted church steward Len Alaker.
The crime could have been carried out at any time between then and the end of the previous Sunday's service.
The burglars gained entry by removing a glass panel in a side window leading into the church's kitchen area.
The only item stolen, from the vestry, was the small, but heavy, metal safe, which is brown and between two and three feet wide and high.
The safe contained the marital register dating back several decades and an unknown quantity of blank marriage certificates.
Police assume the safe was then lifted on to a waiting vehicle, as fresh tyre marks were found on the grass outside.
The safe would probably have needed three or four people to lift it.
Mr Alaker, speaking last night, said: "We only kept the marital register and certificates in the safe and we are concerned that they may be misused.
"The register dates back some time - my wife and I were married in 1953 and our marriage is recorded in it.''
Anyone who saw or heard anything suspicious at the church over the weekend is asked to contact PC Paul Dixon, at Stanley police office, on 0845 60 60 365, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.
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