The item was removed from the bag of one of the parents - and one visitor was a 'person of interest'. Nothing provable.
Let us stop and consider this action by the thief.
This person felt that he had an entitlement to take something that was not his.
This person felt that he had an entitlement to take something which another person had worked for.
This action caused considerable stress and inconvenience to the victim.
The loss hurt the victim and her family.
Trust has been lost by visiting parents. How many never turned up again after the incident? - We can never know.
Highly, inconvenient measures have had to be put into place to prevent a repetition. If it reoccurs, maybe the church would have to incur the incredible costs of installing video cameras.
Furthermore, what contempt the thief showed when stealing in the House of The Lord!
All of this when someone has lost forty or fifty pounds. Think, however, how much worse the crime becomes when credit and debit cards are involved.
Far worse is the theft of a mobile phone. Some people today have almost all of their lives on their mobile. To lose one can be a terrible thing. What too about all of those critical, family photos which you had not yet got around to downloading?
Consequences for the victim are significant. Once caught, consequences for the thief vary between extremely trivial to non-existent.
What kind of world are we living in? There are NO excuses whatsoever for such thefts.
Punishments should not only be punitive but must carry a severely deterrent effect.
As for car theft ... how can anyone ever escape instant custody for such an offence?
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