A Horwich vicar may be forced to employ security guards to protect his church after an arson attack at the weekend.

It was the seventh arson attack in the area in recent months - all happened on Friday or Saturday nights.

Now the Rev Clive Duxbury says he has has reached the end of his tether with a teenage gang who repeatedly drink alcohol outside St Catherine's church.

As reported in Saturday's BEN, someone poured petrol over the main church doors on Friday night and set them alight. There was also evidence that someone had also been glue sniffing.

The blaze smouldered throughout the night and was only spotted by staff at nearby St Catherine's nursing home in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Both doors were destroyed and part of the porch ceiling was damaged. The rest of the 99-year-old church was damaged by smoke.

"We have repeatedly asked youths to move away from the church. They're drinking alcohol and this time we found empty glue containers," said Rev Duxbury. "Unfortunately we can't be on hand 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week. It may well have reached the point where we're forced to employ someone to guard the church.

"This is obviously a very sorry state of affairs, but I simply don't know any other way to curb the problem."

Detective Constable Andy Higham said petrol, or some other form of accelerant had been used.

"Over the past couple of months we have had seven cases of arson in the Horwich area, all of a suspicious nature and all on a Friday or Saturday night," he added. Police appealed for witnesses to ring them on 0161 856 5785.

Parishioners spent Saturday clearing the church in time for yesterday's services.

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