A STOLEN car “obliterated” headstones when it crashed into a church graveyard.

The driver escaped having destroyed part of the lych gate and eight gravestones in the middle of the night at All Saints Church, Brightlingsea.

Lynn Ballard, of the Friends of All Saints Church, said the car had crashed through the gate and landed on its roof 25 feet up the pathway.

She said: “I am devastated. It made me cry.

“Some of my family’s gravestones are in there and they have destroyed one of them and missed the other by about five feet.

“I was called out by Essex Police at 12.30am yesterday as I am a custodian of the Friends of All Saints Church and I couldn’t believe it. There was devastation everywhere.

“Some of those headstones are more than 100-years-old.

“The guy with the truck was amazing. He turned the car on its side and they dragged it through the smashed up lych gate.”

The car had been stolen earlier from Brightlingsea.

Mrs Ballard said: “How it got through the lych gate I don’t know.

“They had stolen it and they hadn’t got far but they were probably flooring it around the corner when they crashed.

“I think they’re lucky to be alive. They went on foot so I wonder if they are injured.

“I imagine we will be fundraising to replace the lych gate but it has only just happened so I’m not sure what we’re going to do.”

An Essex Police spokeswoman said: “We were called to reports of a road traffic collision in Movers Lane, Brightlingsea, just before 11.40pm on Tuesday.

“Officers attended following reports a black Audi had been in collision with the front gate of All Saint’s Church and damaged several headstones.

“The driver left the scene on foot before officers arrived. The car, which had been reported stolen from an address on Bellfield Avenue, has been recovered.

“Anyone with information or dash cam footage of the incident is asked to call the Stanway Roads Policing Unit on 101 quoting the crime reference number 42/169961/18.”