VANDALS caused thousands of pounds of damage to four Chesham churches in a spate of break-ins last week.

They smashed windows, stole cash and electronic equipment and disrupted community group meetings.

The burglars ransacked the church hall attached to St Mary's Church and the main building at Christ Church in Waterside, before taking a laptop and projector system from the United Reformed Church in High Street.

A break-in also took place at the Broadway Baptist Church.

Rev Simon Cansdale of St Mary's Church said thieves broke into a separate church room through a skylight overnight on Monday 9-Tuesday 10 and wrecked the inside of the building.

He thought it would cost £1,000 to repair the damage, although the church is hoping to claim most of this back from its insurance policy.

Rev Cansdale said: “We don't keep anything of value in the church rooms because we know there's a risk. They took a small amount of cash, which was unusual for it to be in there.

“The damage is the expensive thing for us. It's an inconvenience. We are spending money fixing it when we could be doing other things.

“It's frustrating because there's nothing of value in the hall so it was a fruitless exercise for whoever did the break-in.”

At Christ Church thieves again broke in through a skylight into the church hall – before forcing a set of doors in order to get out.

They then smashed a stain-glassed window put in when the church was built 140 years ago to get into the main church building.

Warden Stephen Taylor estimated the repair bill to be £1-2,000 – and all the thieves took were two bottles of wine left over from the church's last fundraising event.

He said it cost £300 just to secure the destroyed doors.

The burglary took place between 3-6pm on Friday 13, leading to the cancellation of a youth club meeting that evening.

Mr Taylor said of the thieves: “We are a charitable organisation that helps people with problems. These are people we'd like to reach out to help.”

On the same day, electrical goods worth thousands were taken from the United Reformed Church.

A break-in at the nearby Broadway Baptist Church was discovered on Tuesday morning.

Police have so far not been able to confirm if any of the break-ins are linked.

Anyone with information on any of the break-ins should contact police on 08458 505 505.