A vicar has been forced to sleep in his church after it was repeatedly targeted by scrap metal thieves.

The Venerable Nick Barker, the priest in charge of Holy Trinity Church in Darlington, co Durham, said he was forced into the move after lead was stolen from the church building twice in July and August.

"We have an excellent roof burglar alarm system, on which we are putting extra sensors," Barker said.

"However, I have been sleeping in the church over the past fortnight to provide added peace of mind in case they try again.

"This has left me feeling cross and frustrated. There is only a minimum amount of lead of the roofs but the thieves do a very costly amount of damage for little reward."

Barker hopes his actions will deter the robbers as work totalling £420,000 is done to the roof.

The money was raised through donations and grants and is spent on the ongoing work to tackle the dry rot and repair the roof of the Grade II listed building.

"We are an active church trying to do something positive for the community, yet we find ourselves targeted by thieves," Barker said.

"It means that some of the money that people kindly donated to the project has had to go on improved security."

Durham police is investigating the thefts.