Vicar hands out route to heaven

A Church of England vicar has called for the thieves who raided his church to have their hands cut off.

The Rev Robert McConachie, 56, of St Dunstan's Church at West Peckham near Maidstone, Kent, made the call after thieves snatched a collection of 100-year-old figurines of the 12 apostles worth up to pounds 5,000. "Cutting off the hands of thieves would act as a deterrent, but more important is the idea of repentance and restitution," he said. "Our prime aim in the church is to turn people away from sin and to save them from going to hell. Cutting off their hands would prevent them from further hindering their progress to heaven."