TEMPLE INTRUDER CAUGHT ON CAMERA CARRYING OUT RAID

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Temple intruder caught on camera carrying out raid

by Ciaran Fagan

An intruder has been caught on camera raiding a Hindu temple.

The unidentified man broke into the Shree Hindu temple and community centre in St Barnabas Road, Spinney Hills, Leicester, in the early hours of Sunday.

The footage, which was captured by a number of cameras both inside and outside the centre, shows the man entering through a kitchen window shortly after 2.15am.

He is then seen going from room to room, bizarrely at one point crawling on his hands and knees.

At one stage, he is filmed using a fire extinguisher to smash the building's fire alarm system. He is then seen kicking open the door to the centre's main office.

The building's owners said the cost of repairing the damage caused by the intruder was likely to run to several thousand pounds.

They also said about £1,700 in cash had gone missing.

The temple also faces a repair bill of approximately £2,500.

The footage suggests the intruder stayed inside the building for four hours.

An external CCTV camera filmed him scaling the centre's main gate shortly after 6.15am.

Members of the temple who live nearby arrived a short time later, alerted by the building's burglar alarm.

Centre manager Mayur Sisodia [in photo above] said: "This is a place of worship, so people are very upset someone has broken in.

"A large sum of money has been stolen and we are keen to get that back.

"We hope someone can identify this man and tell the police who he is."

Dilip Joshi, the temple's priest, said: "People are very shocked someone would break into a temple."

Sanjay Keshav, a volunteer at the centre, said: "This is a place of worship, a house of God, so you would think it would be safe.

"The money which has gone missing was collected for the benefit of the elderly and needy. The fact it has been taken has caused a lot of distress to people here."

Police have launched an investigation into the break-in.

Inspector Bill Knopp, commander of Spinney Hill Park police station, said: "The people at the temple are upset but they're being very stoical about it and getting on with things.

"We're investigating this as a burglary and we'd like people to look at the CCTV footage and contact us if they know who this man is."

Contact Sgt Jim Kroczak on 101 or Crimestoppers, which is anonymous, on 0800 555 111.