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'Items of significance' stolen from Malmesbury Abbey

BBC The side of a police forensics van, part of a police car and the abbey in the background.BBC
Police are investigating the theft

Items of "great significance" have been stolen from an 800-year-old abbey overnight.

Police forensics staff were deployed to Malmesbury Abbey in Wiltshire, which is famous for its 12th Century Norman architecture.

The abbey has now been closed to the public, but will open for a concert on Saturday evening.

Police said goblets and ornaments were among the items stolen, as well as money from the abbey's charity box.

The Reverend Oliver Ross said: "We are all deeply hurt and dismayed by the break-in at the abbey.

"We are amazed that someone would stoop so low as to desecrate and steal from the house of God."

A spokesperson for the abbey asked members of the public to give space to police to do their work.

Wiltshire Police officers are asking anyone with information to contact them on 101.

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