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 in every of nine churches within the Churn Valley benefice, in 1994, when there have been a series of burglaries in the realm on one night.
The thief is assumed to have used a plank to place a baby through the small sacristy window, which has since been barricaded with wire and steel in order that it now not opens.
The cross had been a present 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 greater than 30 years. He told the BBC, “I went to place the dog out at 6 a.m., and there it was. I couldn’t imagine it. It wasn’t there after I went to bed the night before. Whoever returned it should be local — they knew who I used to be, they usually knew where to depart 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 bowled over.
“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 within the secure. If only it could speak and tell us where it has been for the last 30 years. All this time, anyone was aware of what they’d, after which they did the correct thing and gave it back.
“I believe it hasn’t gone very far, and that whoever took it at the unique heist has had it there, taking a look at it, and suddenly had a bout of conscience. Maybe a member of the family has sadly passed away, and there’s been a funeral service happening. Maybe they only felt the higher consciousness come upon them and thought, ‘Really, we must return this beautiful cross back to where it belongs.’”
