THIEVES have stolen a “precious” statue of the Virgin Mary from a concrete plinth outside a Poole church.

The statue, which is around four feet six inches tall, has stood outside St Matthias in Ringwood Road for four months.

However, when members of a fitness class arrived at the venue on Wednesday morning, the statue was nowhere to be found.

Reverend Jonathan Martin said he hopes the thieves will return the Virgin.

“She usually stands on a plinth outside St Matthias Church,” he said.

“She was cemented into the plinth and she served as a sort of shrine for the publics’ prayers.

“I’d imagine that she’s not worth very much, but she has value to us and to those who come to the church.”

Rev Martin said the statue was last seen at around 10pm on Tuesday, August 23.

It is filled with cement and would have been heavy to carry.

“She was given to us as a gift, and as such she is very precious to us,” he said.

“She has been sat there for three or four months quite happily.

“However, this morning we realised she’d been taken during the night.”

Although the statue had been set in concrete on the plinth, thieves didn’t cut it off at the feet, but instead dug into the concrete and removed it in its entirety.

Rev Martin said the figure is important to many parishioners.

“We are based on an industrial estate and a lot of the people who come to visit the church are from Eastern Europe,” he said.

“Many of them are away from their homes, and the Virgin Mary is important to them.

“She’s a common religious figure shared across different countries and cultures.”

The Virgin has blue robes, brown hair and a gold halo.

Anyone with information is asked to call 101.

Rev Martin called on those responsible for the theft to return the church’s property.

“We hope that the thieves will be embarrassed into bringing her back to us,” he said.

“We’re sad to have lost her and we hope very much that whoever took her returns her soon.”