Officers are appealing for information following a fire at St Luke’s Church on Whyteleafe Hill in Whyteleafe in the early hours of Thursday 22 June.

The incident took place last night at approximately 5:00am. Luckily no one was in the church at the time but the thatch roof on the church gate has been damaged as a result of the fire and the consequences could have been far worse. Two trees surrounding the church were also set alight.

Inspector Dan Gutierrez from Tandridge Neighbourhood Team said: “Police are investigating a fire believed to have been started deliberately. We have attended and have seized items which will be forensicly checked. This sort of behaviour is totally unacceptable and we won’t tolerate it in the borough. We need to find whoever was responsible for this incident which is why we are appealing to anyone with information to get in touch.”

Were you in the area at the time? Did you see anybody acting suspiciously? If you don’t want to speak to police directly there are other ways of providing information. You can use the online reporting form found at https://report.police.uk. Alternatively if you don’t want to leave your name the independent charity Crimestoppers can be contacted on 0800 555 111.