Seven Arrested After WWI Plaques Stolen from Christ Church in Chatham

The theft of two World War One plaques from Christ Church Luton in Chatham has led to the arrest of seven individuals. The plaques, which vanished on Friday night, were a significant loss to the community, particularly distressing for the church’s vicar, Rev Andrea Leonard, who labeled the incident as “terrible” in an interview with the BBC.

Both plaques were located on Wednesday in separate scrap yards in Essex, with one suffering “substantial damage.” Kent Police reported that two men from Dartford, both in their mid-twenties, were initially detained. Following this, five more arrests were made, with those individuals ranging in age from 22 to 51 years.

Rev Leonard expressed gratitude to an anonymous individual who discovered one of the plaques and notified the police. She praised their integrity, sharing with BBC Radio Kent, “Hats off to the person, who wants to obviously remain anonymous, but who had the integrity to phone the police and say ‘I’ve got something here that you want.'” She added that the individual was moved by the list of names, remarking, “those poor lads that gave everything, they don’t deserve this.”

The memorial plaques, commemorating 163 individuals from Chatham who perished in the First World War, had been part of the church grounds for over a century. Leonard emphasized their importance to the community and the families of those named. “It was terrible when we discovered that they were gone,” she said, underscoring the shared sense of loss felt by both the church and the broader community.