Bells cut off in their chime: Church's ringers are silenced as saboteur snips rope in the belfry

The bell-ringers in the pretty village are all agreed.

One broken rope is unfortunate, two is a coincidence. But four? That looks suspiciously like sabotage.

There are whispers that the bizarre crime is the work of a disgruntled local who got fed up with the noise of the bells and decided to ring a few changes of his own.

Others are saying that the vandalism was a misguided attempt to secure more money for the church.

It was certainly an elaborate crime. Whoever cut the ropes must have stolen the bell tower key from the vestry at St Peter's Church in Long Bredy in the Bride Valley, near Dorchester, Dorset.

The phantom saboteur then climbed the steep set of stairs to the tower, unlocked the trap door and stood on a bench to slice through the ropes with a knife.

The damage was discovered when the campanologists showed off their skills at the church's open day.

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As they started to ring the bells, they were rewarded not with harmonious pealing, but with the whoosh of falling ropes.

Three snapped instantly, landing on the startled ringers 40ft below.

On closer inspection, it became clear a fourth rope had also been cut with a knife but had not fallen.

Gwen Kinghorn, who organised the open day, said: "Nobody was hurt - it was just more of a fright. I can't believe anyone could do such a thing.

"Whoever did this must have planned it, this wasn't just wanton vandalism.

"It is not the sort of thing a fainthearted person would do. It would probably have been done during the day, because it would be too dark and risky at night.

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"It is all quite sinister and has a bit of Agatha Christie about it. We are hoping the police can get to the bottom of it because we are baffled."

Bell expert Andrew Nicholson, of Nicholson Engineering, said: "I've only ever come across cut ropes twice before in 25 years.

"One was just vandalised and the other was eaten through by squirrels. The odds of it being a coincidence are remote indeed."