"Published on Thursday 24 July 2003 12:36 VANDALS daubed paint on pews and used brass candlesticks to smash the contents of a school´s chapel. The intruders entered the chapel in the grounds of St Elphins School, Darley Dale, via an insecure side door, overnight on Wednesday July 16. They threw around pots of paint which had been used in the refurbishment of the chapel in time for the planned Senior School Speech Day on Friday July 18. Church organ keys, a stone font and leaded glass windows were smashed. The candlesticks used in the attack were bent. The altar had been turned over and the school banner had been ripped down and trampled on. Principal Dr Deborah Mouat said: "We feel that it was a targeted act of vandalism. It was a malicious frenzied attack." Nothing was stolen in the break-in. Dr Mouat added: "We all felt very shocked. They vandalised the heart of the school." "Were going to rise above this and the chapel is going to be even better. Theyre not going to get us down." Rev Andrew William, chaplin and vice principal of the senior school said: "We want justice and not revenge." Dr Mouat said the cost of the damage runs into five figures. She said the work at the chapel was a very important part of the schools refurbishment programme to put St Elphins into the next century. Scenes of crime investigators visited the chapel on Thursday for forensic tests. The school hopes to have the repair work completed in time for the new term.
Reprinted by kind permission of Matlock Mercury |
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