A REWARD of £10,000 has been offered by three businessmen for information leading to the location of their village?s church bells, stolen from a Pixon Lane workshop in Tavistock. The men are from Merton and the bells belonged to their village church All Saints. The bells were being refurbished at Parade Business Park, off Pixon lane. Thieves broke into the premises between 6.40pm and 9.15pm on Monday, August 13 and stole the ?irreplaceable? items. One of the bells dates from the 13th century and is Listed. Together the bells are worth £30,000 and could have been stolen for their scrap value as they are 70% copper. Two of the bells were 4cwt and the third weighed a quarter of a ton. Police said the thieves must have had a vehicle and it would have needed four people to move just one of the bells. PC John Cockayne said: ?We are looking at CCTV images in and around the area.? The vicar of All Saints Church, the Rev Christian Merryvale, said parishioners were devastated to learn the bells had been stolen. He is appealing for anyone with information to contact the police. Anyone with information should contact 08452 777444 and quote crime reference number JT/07/1168.
