Man who broke into Grade Il-listed church and smashed stained glass window fined £11k

Monday, 9 March 2026 15:30

A man has been fined more than £11,000 after he smashed a stained glass window of a Grade II-listed church.

Craig Knight, 50, left behind traces of blood when he broke into St Anne's Church in Kew, south west London, while drunk on 10 January.

Reverend Canon Dr Giles Fraser said he saw blood on the church altar and floor, and discovered that two brass candlesticks had been taken.

Knight, of Waltham Forest, east London, also got into a mausoleum behind the altar and opened a box containing ashes, Rev Fraser said.

However, the candlesticks were later returned, the vicar added.

Wimbledon Magistrates' Court heard on Monday that Knight was "extremely ashamed" and reported what had happened to the police.

He pleaded guilty to criminal damage and removal of human remains from a place of burial, and was sentenced to a 12-month community order.

The defendant was also fined a total of £11,415, including legal costs, and must carry out 60 hours of unpaid work.

Chairman of the magistrates' bench, Peter Jones, said there was "recklessness and impulse", but noted Knight's remorse.

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Rev Fraser said: "I did feel quite angry when it happened.

"But the fact that the candles were returned, I think made people feel rather sorry for him."

St Anne's Church was founded in 114 after Queen Anne approved a chapel to be built on Kew Green.

It is the burial place of artists Thomas Gainsborough, Johann Zoffany and George Engleheart, and botanist Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker.

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