AN ALTAR cross stolen from a church 30 years ago has been returned: it was left in a plastic bag on the doorstep of Elmore Crump, aged 88, a retired verger of All Saints’, North Cerney, in Gloucestershire.
A note attached to the bag read, “You know where this belongs.” The nine-inch silver-plated cross, inlaid with mother-of-pearl, was taken from the sacristy of All Saints’, one of nine churches in the Churn Valley benefice, in 1994, when there were a series of burglaries in the area on one night.
The thief is thought to have used a plank to put a child through the small sacristy window, which has since been barricaded with wire and steel so that it no longer opens.
The cross had been a gift to the church from a long-standing parishioner, Lady Winifred Murray, who died in 2019. Her son, Alex, told BBC TV that the mystery of the missing cross would remain a mystery, but that the family was delighted to have it returned to the church.
Mr Crump was a verger of All Saints’ for more than 30 years. He told the BBC, “I went to put the dog out at 6 a.m., and there it was. I couldn’t believe it. It wasn’t there when I went to bed the night before. Whoever returned it must be local — they knew who I was, and they knew where to leave it. Whoever took it clearly had second thoughts, but after 30 years, why now?”
Mr Crump cleaned and polished the blackened cross. “It looks absolutely magnificent now,” a churchwarden of All Saints’, Mark Tufnell, said. “I happened to call in to see him after the service [on Sunday], when he said to me, ‘You’ll never know what’s returned!’ He was quite taken aback.
“I’ve reintroduced it to the church. We’ve announced it to the congregation at each service that we’ve had; and between services, it’s now locked away in the safe. If only it could speak and tell us where it has been for the last 30 years. All this time, somebody was aware of what they had, and then they did the right thing and gave it back.
“I suspect it hasn’t gone very far, and that whoever took it at the original heist has had it there, looking at it, and suddenly had a bout of conscience. Maybe a family member has sadly passed away, and there’s been a funeral service taking place. Maybe they just felt the better consciousness come upon them and thought, ‘Really, we must return this beautiful cross back to where it belongs.’”