`Amnesty' offered to thieves who stole statue

THIEVES who stole a 600 year old statue of Our Lady of York from a church in Yorkshire have been promised an "amnesty" if they return it to the priest.
Fr Michael Keogh, curate of St Wilfrid's Church in York said he would not call in the police if they brought the statue hack. Parishioners were "heartbroken" when it was stolen. he said.
"It is priceless in spiritual terms rather than monetary. The parishioners are very upset," said Fr Keogh.
The 25 inch high statue is of oak and depicts the Virgin and Child. It was carved especially to hang in a chapel dedicated to Our Lady, built near Mourseele. Flanders. For centuries pilgrims knelt before it hoping to he healed by its miraculous powers.
It was brought to England by a French emigre family, the Vandepittes, after the French Revolution. The family settled in Market Harborough and kept the statue for 70 years.
It was given to St Wilfrid's Church in 1884 by I r Richard Vandepitte.