Members of St Helen's Parish Church in Treeton, South Yorkshire, have been left furious after police let off three masked men caught in the act of stealing lead from the ancient church.

St Helen's, which is mentioned in the Domesday Book, has suffered 10 lead thefts in 10 months, amounting to £100,000 worth of lead taken from the church's roof and clock tower.

Yet when three men wearing balaclavas and masks were caught by police on the roof of the church last Sunday, police let them off with a caution because they believed that they were just admiring the view, reports the Daily Mail.

Police cited "insufficient evidence", as the men had nothing incriminating on them and police were unable to take fingerprints from the stolen lead roofing.

The lack of action has left the congregation outraged and concerned at the prospect of yet more thefts.

Church member Carole Robinson, who is married to a churchwarden, was quoted by the Daily Mail as saying, "It was beyond belief. The police said they could claim they had only gone up to look at the view. It left people furious.

"We have been plagued with lead thefts and when we finally catch men on the roof they let them off with a caution."

Lead thieves are targeting churches across the country as the price of lead soars.

In the latest incident, police were called to the church last Sunday after several residents spotted the men on the roof.

"The police arrived and the men came down and in effect gave themselves up," Mrs Robinson was quoted by the Daily Mail as saying. "It seemed they had been caught red-handed. Lead had been removed and rolled up ready to be carried off.

"But the police said lead was not the kind of material you could get fingerprints from and they did not have enough evidence to take them to court because they could not link the men to the lead.

"I just felt totally vulnerable. It seems we are totally helpless and the law seems to be on the side of the criminals."

The church now faces huge repair costs of £100,000 to repair the roof, as well as another £100,000 to repair and repoint the tower of the church.

Thieves have even used scaffolding, erected by builders to replace the roof with stainless steel sheets, as a climbing frame to reach new parts of the roof to steal more lead.

Chief Inspector Jason Harwin of South Yorkshire Police told the Daily Mail: "Four officers were deployed to the scene including a police dog handler. When the officers arrived they spoke with three youths who were on the scaffolding.

"Officers searched all three youths and thoroughly examined the surrounding area but found no evidence that any offences had been committed, nor that the youths possessed any articles with which to commit any offences.

"As a result of this officers had no power to arrest these youths and they were warned to stay away from the property.

"Various local operations have been conducted in order to catch offenders in the process of stealing lead from the church but so far these have been to no gain. We can assure residents that work is continuing in co-operation with members of the church to tackle the issue."

Mrs Robinson reacted with anger to police suggestions that the men on the roof were just youths. "They were men aged between 20 and 30 and they had balaclavas and gloves," she said. "I think it's quite wrong for the police dismiss this as youths playing on the scaffolding."

Ecclesiastical says the number of lead roof thefts is at epidemic levels, with more than 1,800 claims this in 2007 alone at a cost of nearly £5.8m.