By Cherry Wilson

cherry.wilson@essnmedia.co.uk

Heartless thieves who stole £100 of flowers from a church may have ruined its chance of winning its third prestigious gardening prize.

The vandals left a trail of destruction when they ripped out the plants from the garden of South Norwood Baptist Church on Oliver Grove – twice in less than a week.

The church prides itself on its beautiful display which has seen it win a merit and silver award in the Croydon in Bloom competition for the last two years.

Gardener Tex Powell, who has been looking after the church grounds for three years, said he was gutted when he made the shocking discovering on May 8.

And in a further insult, the thieves came back three days later to steal more flowers from the garden.

Mr Powell is worried the theft may have ruined the church's chance of winning another award as he may not be able to fix the garden before the competition deadline in June.

"The church is passionate about its flowers and a lot of work goes into the garden," he said.

"It’s a landmark in South Norwood. We take pride in the garden and everybody comes and comments about how beautiful it is.

"I’m gutted because I spend a lot of time preparing the garden. I was proud to work on a garden like that in the heart of South Norwood. But it’s been destroyed by thieves.

"We usually enter the Croydon in Bloom but I don’t see how we can do that this year. We’ve lost all of the plants."

The thieves stole a variety of colourful flowers which included geraniums, dianthus and petunias paid for out of church funds.

Mr Powell cannot believe anyone would target a church which looks after its community.

"It's heartless," he said. "I can’t believe they would stoop so low. They're scum of the earth. We're a family church and I can't see any reason why it's happened to us."

Sergeant Cliff Baxter, from the South Norwood Safer Neighbourhood Team, said: "It's quite sad that the efforts of somebody who wants to make South Norwood pleasant has been thwarted by thieves."

Anyone with information is asked to contact the SNT on 020 8649 1323.

*Can you donate any flowers to South Norwood Parish Church? If so, contact the Croydon Advertiser newsdesk on 0208 760 7612.