A THEFT of stone from a church wall has left a community stunned.

Rockfield Church, just over two miles north of Monmouth, was targeted by thieves who have taken ten coping stones from the wall at the front of the church.

The theft was noticed on Sunday morning and churchwarden Glyn Edmunds was made aware of the theft immediately.

The stones are 600mm by 450 mm - two feet wide by 18 inches deep - and were taken sometime overnight between Saturday Aug 6 and 8.30am Sunday Aug 7.

“This is the second time this has happened to the church and it is despicable and just hope that anyone that has pinched them is satisfied with themselves” said Glyn. The original ancient stones were stolen about 10 years ago and the church replaced them with a contemporary stone but these have now fallen to the same fate as their predecessors.

A police spokesman said : “We received a report of a theft in Rockfield, Monmouth, after 10 capping stones were taken from the grounds of St. Cenedlon at some point between 12am on Saturday 6 August and 8.30am on Sunday 7 August.

Anyone with information is asked to call 101 or send us a direct message on social media, quoting log reference 2200264972.

You can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 with details.