Vandals smash St John's Church's windows and set fire to the altar

On Wednesday, October 26, parishioners were "shocked" and "horrified" when they arrived at St John's Church in Purewell.

Shattered glass covered the floor and the smell of smoke was still present in the building.

The "mindless" attack on the church prevented the midweek service from taking place.

A first aid kit was found on the floor close to a box of matches that was used to set the altar on fire, the church suspect that the intruder hurt themselves during the break in.

Fire extinguishers were also left on either side of the altar. 

Parishioners from All Saints Church in Mudeford are currently using St. John's Church as a result of the fire that destroyed the church in July after an electrical problem left it uninhabitable.

READ MORE: Pictures of fire at All Saints Church in Mudeford

Christine Green, a churchwarden of All Saints Church, said: "I came in a 9am this morning and I could smell the smoke damage as soon as I came through the door. 

St John's Church burnt-out altar (Image: Evie Coffey, Newsquest)

"It's so disappointing because we were only just getting ourselves established because of the fire at All Saints Church in Mudeford.

"It's distressing to see this has happened here, words can't express how I feel because it's taken us so long to get over what happened at all saints.

"It's just sickening, they haven't taken anything, it's just mindless vandalism, why people do it I will never know."

Colin Bacchus a churchwarden for St John's Church was "horrified" when he heard about the "sacrilegious" attack on his church. 

Colin said: "As soon as I got the message I came down to see how bad the damage was. 

READ MORE: Vandals smash car windows in late-night attack in Wimborne

"We expect between 20/30 people to arrive at the Wednesday service, we had lots of people turn up shocked when they saw what has happened to their church. 

St John's Church smashed window (Image: Evie Coffey, Newsquest)

"It's sad, the people that have done it clearly think that it's something that's not important but it's still so important to lots of people. 

"Especially now, life is very difficult at the moment and people come to church to get support and talk to others.

"It's sacrilegious what they have done, to burn an altar is just awful to think why someone would want to do that. 

"Last week the two front windows had been shot at, we have already reported that so to now come in and find this is just horrific."

A spokesperson from Dorset Police said: "Dorset Police received a report at 9.16am on Wednesday 26 October 2022 of a break-in at St Johns Church in Purewell, Christchurch.

"It was also reported that a fire had occurred at the church causing damage. Officers are aware and enquiries are ongoing. No arrests have been made."