Thieves broke into churches more than 30 times across Kent last year.

Police released the figures following a Freedom of Information, which reveal a total of 36 burglaries and robberies at the county's churches between January and December 2016.

There were two burglaries across the 27 churches in the Dartford borough during that time, but Canterbury, Sevenoaks, and Swale led the way with four church burglaries each.

Shepway’s churches were most free of such crimes, with just one burglary reported all year, while Thanet also only had one, in addition to one case of robbery.

The most expensive burglary took place in Sevenoaks, where one raid saw thieves snatch £2,900 worth of items.

The FOI was made by our sister paper the Gravesend Messenger.