Vandals smashed a safe and stole a stereo during a raid at a church.

A woman who helps clean St Andrew's Church in Furnace Green, Crawley, discovered the damage when she arrived before a service and called police.

The Reverend Jonathan Mortimer, team rector for the parish, said: "It has left a very nasty taste in the mouth.

"We try to ensure our churches are always kept open while there are people supervising but they are always locked up at night.

"There wasn't a great deal of stuff inside to take and we're all very saddened they chose to break into a church."

The thieves forced open a window to get into the church.

A tape recorder and a CD player were also stolen.

The thieves attempted to break into the safe but only succeeded in damaging it.

Derek Lawrence, churchwarden, said: "Even if they had got into the safe they wouldn't have found anything, we never keep cash in the church overnight."

"You don't want to turn the church into a fortress but unfortunately we must take reasonable precautions to stop this sort of thing happening again."

The church is expected to increase security following the attack which happened on Friday.