A CHURCH has put out a desperate plea asking for help to recover a brass eagle that was boldly stolen from the place of worship in a brazen daylight robbery.
The brass bird was set atop a lectern in St Augustine’s Church in Birmingham, West Midlands when it was swiped by a hooded figure on Monday.
The bold thief strolled into the church and, wrapping the eagle – which dates back to 1868 – in a blanket, picked it up and walked out.
The church has since pleaded with scrap, metal and antiques dealers to keep on the lookout for their Victorian era brass bird.
The footage of the robbery shows the unidentified thief, dressed in blue jeans and a hooded dark green top, walking into the empty church unopposed.
The man then strides up the aisle, nonchalantly making his way between the pews to the eagle lectern, knowing exactly what he was there for and how to remove it from its stand.
He easily removes the more than 150-year-old brass bird and wraps it in a blanket he appears to have brought with him in preparation for his heist, before making his escape.
The robbery took place in broad daylight with the man remaining entirely unopposed throughout, making easy sport of the unguarded church.
St Augustine’s has been left dejected by the callous robbery and have pleaded for the eagle to be returned to them.
The church begged locals to be on the lookout, stating that the robbery had been reported to the police but needed as much help as possible recovering the eagle.
A post shared to social media showing the footage of the robbery alongside before and after photos of the lectern was made on Monday.
The post was captioned: “We are saddened to report that the eagle has been stolen from our Victorian brass lectern.
“The theft occurred on the morning of 10 June by a solo man walking into church and removing it from the column, covering it in a blanket and walking out with it.”
It has since received over 500 likes and 50 comments from social media users stunned that someone would rob a place of worship.
One user said: “Let’s make this too hot to handle and name the culprit.”
Another added: “Never known church unattended and unlocked like this anymore for this very reason.”
A third wrote: “I mean how low can you go to steal from a church.”
Another replied: “I hope you catch him. Alert all scrap merchants and antique shops.”
