The man, who was taken into custody on the evening of Monday, September 2, after the fire at the Immaculate Conception Church, admitted to the facts. He admitted to breaking into the religious building.
The man taken into custody after the fire at the Immaculate Conception church in Saint-Omer (Pas-de-Calais) admitted the facts and had already been convicted of “damage to a religious building”, the prosecution said on Wednesday, September 4.
He admitted to breaking into the church, according to him with the aim of stealing money from the boxes, then setting it on fire, Saint-Omer public prosecutor Mehdi Benbouzid told AFP.
The suspect was released from prison at the end of August.
This thirty-year-old French national was arrested on the evening of Monday, September 2. Released from prison at the end of August after “a long incarceration” for “theft and wilful damage”, he was staying in a shelter.
He had already been convicted “on numerous occasions for acts of destruction by fire,” the prosecutor said. In particular, he had already been convicted for “damaging a religious building,” the magistrate stressed.
The Saint-Omer public prosecutor’s office is handing over the investigation to the Boulogne-sur-Mer (Pas-de-Calais) public prosecutor’s office, he added.
The Church of the Immaculate Conception, located in a suburb of Saint-Omer, was devastated by a major fire on the night of Sunday to Monday around 4:30 a.m., which caused the collapse of the bell tower and the vault of the building. The images of the bell tower in flames have aroused strong emotion.
The diocese reported “significant damage” to the church, where a 19th-century Merklin organ went up in smoke. Inaugurated in 1859, the Immaculate Conception Church was completely restored between 2014 and 2018.
