Man admits to coating relic in concrete after taking it from church because he objected to it being displayed, police say
Czech police have found the skull of a 13th-century saint, days after it was stolen from a church in the north of the country.
Police said they had arrested a suspect, who they said admitted to taking the skull of Saint Zdislava of Lemberk from a glass shrine in the basilica of St Lawrence and St Zdislava in the town of Jablonné v Podještědí on Tuesday.
The 35-year-old man had objected to it being displayed, police said, and had intended to cover it in concrete and dispose of it in a river.
“We know he wanted to sink it in the river today to bid farewell in this way,” the local police chief Petr Rajt told reporters. “If we had failed to detain the man yesterday, the skull would probably never be found.”
