A church confession has led to the recovery of a big sum of stolen money that had been collected by a church in aid of the missions.

On Monday morning, the police received a report that €5,000 had been stolen from the Ibraġġ parish church, and a magisterial inquiry was appointed.

The confession was heard yesterday in a separate parish, following which the money was returned and passed on to Archbishop Charles Scicluna.

The duty magistrate, Joseph Mifsud, released the money so that it could be used for its intended purpose and it was returned to the Ibraġġ parish priest Tony Agius.