Two men seen on the roof of All Saints Church in Holbeach in the middle of the night will not face charges after they told police they were fetching a football.
A 19 and 20-year-old were detained after triggering the alarm shortly after 2am on Monday, October 16.
As part of the newly-installed alarm system, they were videoed on top of the historic High Street building.
The pair had fled the scene by the time Lincolnshire Police and church warden Nigel Beverley-Stone had arrived 10 minutes later.
However, they later returned to retrieve a bag they had left behind.
The alarm had been put in place less than three weeks earlier by Donington based GBSG and is designed to stop lead thefts from church roofs.
A spokesman for GBSG, said: “In the early hours of October 16 alarms were triggered in our control room, alerting us to a presence on the roof of All Saints Church in Holbeach.
“When an alarm is triggered an operator is automatically presented with a video clip of what has caused the activation.
“Immediately the operator saw people on the roof and called the police and the key holder, the local church warden.
“Within 10 minutes of the alarm being triggered both the police and warden were on site.
“The intruders were not to be seen at that point, but having left a bag behind, it was only a matter of time until they would return.”
The two men will not be charged for any offences as a result of the incident.
A Lincolnshire Police spokesman said: “Two males, aged 19 and 20, were stopped in the church grounds in the early hours and said they had been looking for a football on the roof.
“There was no evidence of any offences and after having their details taken, the men were allowed to continue on their way.”
