Reading: Priest Has Tyres Slashed Three Times

By Denna Bowman

A priest is being forced to lock his car away at night after callous vandals slashed his tyres on three occasions.

Father Tony Sammarco, of St John Fisher Church in Perivale, west London, says not having easy access to the vehicle has affected his work visiting sick and dying people.

And replacing the tyres has cost him more than £200, according to the report in the Ealing Gazette.
Father Sammarco said: “Clearly someone has a grievance, either against the church or against me.

“It always happens in the middle of the night. That’s when people do their dirty work, so it’s going to be very difficult for the police to investigate it.”

It is thought a craft knife was plunged into two tyres in the most recent attack, on Sunday night.
A similar method was used to puncture another tyre on August 21, but a screw was used in the first attack, in May.

Father Sammarco added: “I started loosening the screw with a screwdriver and realised it was massive, three inches long. It had clearly been forced in.

“If they have a grievance, I’d like to talk to them, but if they’re damaging my car and I don’t know who it is or why, then I’m powerless. All I can do is take evasive action and park my car away from the church in a secure place.

“I need my car to make home and hospital visits. If someone is dying in the middle of the night, I can’t take public transport. Now it is going to take me longer to get to my car before I can go to see them.”

All the attacks took place between 9.15pm, when Father Tony locked up the church, and 6.30am, when he returned the following morning.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 24th, 2009 at 12:25 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.