Services go ahead after man charged with arson attack at church 

3:14pm Monday 24th December 2012 in News 

A MAN was due in court today after an alleged arson attack at a Hampshire church. 

Parishioners discovered extensive smoke damage to the inside of St Bartholomew's Church in King Alfred Place, Hyde, Winchester, when they arrived for services yesterday morning. 

The church has been forced to close because of the fire, but bosses today said Christmas services would go ahead unaffected in the nearby church hall. 

Police have charged Andrew Richardson, aged 18, of no fixed abode, with arson, burglary and criminal damage in relation to the incident, and also a break in at St Peter's Church in Jewry Street, Winchester, in the early hours of Sunday.

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/10127158.Historic_church_at_centre_of_alleged_arson_attack/