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Three Stole Lead From Derelict Church

Kentish Independent – Friday 08 April 1960

Three Stole Lead From Derelict Church

Three men were fined a total of £24 at Greenwich on Friday after they had pleaded guilty to stealing about 5 cwt. of lead worth £5 from the derelict St. Peter’s Church in Courtlands Avenue, Lee, the previous day.

Michael Lee (39), chargehand, of Pickton House, New Park Road. Brixton. was fined £7, Michael Mackrait (38), labourer, of Cintra Park, Upper Norwood, was fined £12, and Leonard Charles Lucas (38), lorry driver, of Byan Street, Fulham, was fined £5.

Police said the derelict church was used as a store and Lee and Mackrait, who were employed on a nearby building site, stripped off a quantity of lead before approach-ing Lucas and asking him to pick it up in his lorry.

Observation was kept on the church grounds and the men were arrested when they went to pick up the lead, Lee told the police: “We would only have got a few pounds for it.”