British police officers asked a vicar who reported a raid on her church to preserve the thief’s snowy footprints, but the evidence melted before they turned up.

Reverend Heather Murray saw the footprints after discovering lead had been taken from the church gates in its third raid of the year.

The clergywoman, of St Thomas’ Church in County Durham, said: “They asked if I would cover the footprints and preserve them until they came. I said it wouldn’t be possible as the snow was melting.”

Durham Police said this was “standard procedure”, The Northern Echo reported.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.