Thieves steal roof from house

Thieves stripped a roof of expensive slates in an audacious overnight raid – while people slept soundly below.

They made off with an estimated eight tons of Yorkshire grey slates worth thousands of pounds in the bold burglary at Longley.

But the tenants living in the grade II listed cottages did not notice what had happened until rain started leaking in.

The theft at a row of cottages called Longley, off Lowerhouses Lane, is believed to have happened between June 7 and 9.

Sharon Miller, who lives in one of the cottages, said: “I was in bed and thought I could hear someone above me, but I thought I was just hearing things.

“The next night I couldn’t get to sleep because of a dripping noise, so I called a friend round to have a look at it and we discovered the whole roof had gone – I couldn’t believe it.”

A police spokeswoman said thefts of lead and copper from roofs were common. But slate thefts on this scale were rare. This may well have been done to order,” she added.