AN inquest has been opened and adjourned following the death of a Barnsley burglar who was jailed following a raid on a church.
Adam Goulding’s body was found by paramedics on November 17, 2025, while he was under supervision at a Probation Service-run residential facility for recently-released convicts.
Prior to his death, Goulding, 41, was handed a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence in 2021 after admitting to two burglaries and handling stolen goods.
Goulding first targeted a young family’s house in Barnsley in May 2020, taking toys and photographs before targeting St George’s Church, on York Street.
He entered the building as its vicar made funeral arrangements with a grieving family, so was told to wait until the meeting had finished.
However, when the vicar went to speak with him, both Goulding and a woman he had been with had vanished.
It later became clear that Goulding had stolen a cash box along with keys, books and mobile phone and the vicar’s car worth £3,500.
The inquest, which opened at Sheffield’s Medico Legal Centre on Wednesday, is set to resume later this year.
