Stolen civic chain back at church

A civic chain has been returned to the Stourbridge church where it was stolen.

Police handed the engraved glass chain of office, celebrating the area's glassmaking heritage, back to Holy Trinity Church, Amblecote.

A thief caught on CCTV was jailed for six months after images were published in the Express & Star.

Sergeant Steve Gordon, from Stourbridge police, said he was delighted officers recovered the chain, dumped in a roadside drain in Lye, and were able to return it.

He said: "The chain may have no monetary value but it is unique and makes that church what it is and for it to have been stolen and sold for scrap would have made Stourbridge a lesser place."

Images published in the Express & Star were a "great help" in securing a conviction, he said.

Scott Pooler, aged 34, of Gibbs House, Gibbs Road, Lye, admitted stealing the chain along with a crucifix and three ft cross which were sold for scrap metal.

At Dudley magistrates court last week he was given six months to run concurrently with an existing four-year sentence for burglary.

The chain was presented by the outgoing chairman of the former Amblecote Urban District Council when it was dissolved in 1966 and bears the names of all the chairmen.