Coronavirus: Thief takes Northampton church streaming kit

Equipment used to stream church services during lockdown, and for those still shielding, has been stolen.

The video camera and other items worth about £560 were taken from Anglican church All Saints' in Northampton shortly before 19:00 BST on Wednesday.

Father Oliver Coss said he was testing some of the other equipment in time for Sunday's service when the thief struck.

He said the church was committed to streaming to those who could not attend but the theft made it "very difficult".

Posting CCTV photographs of a person seen in the church at the time of the theft on social media, Father Coss wrote: "I spent part of our open hours this evening testing our live-streaming equipment so that Sunday's broadcast wouldn't be interrupted."

He said a man, with a face covering, was seen entering the church by a side door shortly before 19:00.

Items worth hundreds of pounds were then found to be missing.

"These were a Sony CX-450 video camera, an El Gato HS60S HDMI capture card, and a Microsoft Surface Dock. Aside from my laptop, which had already been hidden away, these are the things we've used to stream our worship from the rectory and from church right through lockdown," the rector wrote.

"We should very much like them back."

The equipment had been "vital to maintaining some semblance of normality", allowing the church to stream online worship services, he wrote.

Although the public had been allowed back in the church since 5 July, Father Coss said: "It has been a key undertaking to those who've continued to shield themselves that we would continue as we have for the foreseeable future.

"I'm sorry to say that this theft, coming at a time of intense financial difficulty for us, makes that very difficult."

Northamptonshire Police confirmed it was investigating the theft.

All Saints was also targeted in May last year when a thief stole a chalice, and in September personal belongings were taken from the choir room during a service.