.
Incredible though it may seem, this is the first time in England that metal detectorists have been sentenced for culture-crime. So far the task of policing the nighthawks and other such reprehensible individuals have eluded the British authorities. This is a notoriously difficult crime to prosecute and convict, but due to some exceptional work by the Northampton police and the Criminal prosecution Service, one such case has been brought to a conclusion. The site concerned was the scheduled monument at Chester Farm, owned by Northamptonshire County Council (NCC), a Roman small town now under fields. The site has been attacked many times before and the Grade II* listed 16th and 17th century farm house on the site was seriously damaged by arson in 2010. The police arrested two men caught metal detecting on the scheduled monument last July and conducted a raid at their homes.
On Thursday the two metal detector users were given a suspended custodial sentence and Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBO) by the court for carrying out illegal metal detecting activities on a protected site.
Mark Holmes - the key phrase is "if you are caught", but then a number of serious failures in recent years show that even if caught, the chances of actually being prosecuted and convicted are pretty slim and always will be while Britain has the laws on artefact hunting that it does.
But I admit to being completely baffled by what has emerged from this case. We learn that "damage had also been caused to the scheduled monument by the excavation of trenches, which had been illegally dug in search of artefacts". Is the inference that these trenches had been dug by te two sentenced on Thursday, or by somebody else? The confusion is caused by the photos of police gathering evidence at the site published in the local newspaper of these trenches:
This photograph shows a neatly-dug straight-sided trench with right-angled corners, behind which are two spoil heaps looking as if the earth has been removed by scraping rather than just digging down, with stone rubble separated out. More to the point the surface the crouching figure is standing on quite clearly has been trowel-cleaned and brushed. What we see here looks more like an amateur excavation (which that bloke with a hi-vis waistcoat is going to try to drive stakes in with that mallet) rather than an artefact hunter's grubbings. As amateur excavations go, not too badly done either. Another photo, released by English Heritage shows the vertical baulks and regular shape of the trench and the excavation of a negative feature below the rubble layer.
If this is indeed a picture of the 'damage' done to Chester Farm, I'd be very interested to know the nature of those " documents relating to the scheduled monument" that were seized. Were they site notebooks? Just what was in fact going on here? Has somebody been prosecuted for illegal metal detecting on a scheduled site who was instead trying to carry out an amateur archaeological investigation? Should metal detectorists be worried that - despite apparent evidence otherwise - an effort is being made to stress the use of metal detectors in this crime, when what was actually involved was a case of something else?
Are the English Heritage impact statement and the British Museum report available in the public domain?
I think - given the nature of what that photo shows - this is certainly a case the PAS should have issued a statement about. Has it?
Sources:
Anon, ' Metal detector pair sentenced for stealing artefacts', Northants Telegraph, Thursday 20 December 2012
Incredible though it may seem, this is the first time in England that metal detectorists have been sentenced for culture-crime. So far the task of policing the nighthawks and other such reprehensible individuals have eluded the British authorities. This is a notoriously difficult crime to prosecute and convict, but due to some exceptional work by the Northampton police and the Criminal prosecution Service, one such case has been brought to a conclusion. The site concerned was the scheduled monument at Chester Farm, owned by Northamptonshire County Council (NCC), a Roman small town now under fields. The site has been attacked many times before and the Grade II* listed 16th and 17th century farm house on the site was seriously damaged by arson in 2010. The police arrested two men caught metal detecting on the scheduled monument last July and conducted a raid at their homes.
A large amount of Iron Age, Roman and medieval coins, metal artefacts and pottery, along with metal detecting British Museum helped to identify and date the archaeological finds. English Heritage submitted a heritage impact statement that highlights the national importance of the site and the irreversible damage caused by Cox and West.
On Thursday the two metal detector users were given a suspended custodial sentence and Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBO) by the court for carrying out illegal metal detecting activities on a protected site.
Peter Cox, 69, and Darren West, 51, both from Northamptonshire, were sentenced by Northampton Crown Court on Thursday, December 19, to one year imprisonment, suspended for two years, after pleading guilty to stealing artefacts from and causing serious damage to a scheduled monument at Chester Farm, near Irchester. This is the result of an investigation by a heritage crime partnership involving English Heritage, Northamptonshire Police, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the British Museum. The sentences also included 150 hours of community service, a curfew, confiscation of metal detecting equipment, compensation for damage caused to the scheduled monument, and Anti-Social Behaviour Orders that restrict use of metal detecting equipment.The sentencing attracted the usual crop of self-gratulatory speeches from the usual quarters:
Mike Harlow, governance and legal director of English Heritage, said: “The sentence today sets an important watershed in the combat against illegal metal detecting and acknowledges its true impact on society. “These are not people enjoying a hobby or professionals carrying out a careful study. They are thieves using metal detectors like a burglar uses a jemmy. The material they are stealing belongs to the landowner and the history they are stealing belongs to all of us. Once the artefacts are removed from the ground and sold the valuable knowledge they contain is lost for ever. [...] Mark Holmes, senior crown prosecutor and heritage crime co-ordinator for CPS East Midlands, said [...] “This case is the largest scale operation we have prosecuted for this type of crime. It should serve as a warning to anyone else involved in this activity that it is a crime and if you are caught you face prosecution and a criminal record. The CPS will continue to work closely with our partners in preventing heritage crime and ensuring perpetrators are brought to justice.”Mark Holmes, senior crown prosecutor and heritage crime co-ordinator for CPS East Midlands, said:
“This practice of illegal metal detecting and stealing artefacts from the ground has been a growing problem, which the Crown Prosecution Service takes seriously. Often carried out by so-called ‘enthusiasts’, this kind of activity has retained a veneer of respectability which it just does not deserve. Land is being damaged; the theft of ancient artefacts robs us of important information about our heritage and the artefacts themselves are lost to the public. “This case is the largest scale operation we have prosecuted for this type of crime. It should serve as a warning to anyone else involved in this activity that it is a crime and if you are caught you face prosecution and a criminal record. The CPS will continue to work closely with our partners in preventing heritage crime and ensuring perpetrators are brought to justice.”All well and good, but the (thinking) members of the public might be left puzzling over why those "enthusiasts enjoying a hobby" are not taking away history too. When are they and when are they not? It beats me how anyone can rtalk with a straight face about the "true impact on society" when (a) being wholy clandestine, it actually has no "impact" on society as such and (b) nobody can say exactly how extensive this type of metal detector use is in teh UK, can they? I imagine also those who last night were out there hoovering up the heritage illegally as a sort of extreme sport are laughing at the stern words of
Mark Holmes - the key phrase is "if you are caught", but then a number of serious failures in recent years show that even if caught, the chances of actually being prosecuted and convicted are pretty slim and always will be while Britain has the laws on artefact hunting that it does.
But I admit to being completely baffled by what has emerged from this case. We learn that "damage had also been caused to the scheduled monument by the excavation of trenches, which had been illegally dug in search of artefacts". Is the inference that these trenches had been dug by te two sentenced on Thursday, or by somebody else? The confusion is caused by the photos of police gathering evidence at the site published in the local newspaper of these trenches:
 |
| Northamptonshire Police take a plaster cast of tool marks after Cox and West dug trenches for illegal metal detecting (Northamptonshire Telegraph) |
If this is indeed a picture of the 'damage' done to Chester Farm, I'd be very interested to know the nature of those " documents relating to the scheduled monument" that were seized. Were they site notebooks? Just what was in fact going on here? Has somebody been prosecuted for illegal metal detecting on a scheduled site who was instead trying to carry out an amateur archaeological investigation? Should metal detectorists be worried that - despite apparent evidence otherwise - an effort is being made to stress the use of metal detectors in this crime, when what was actually involved was a case of something else?
Are the English Heritage impact statement and the British Museum report available in the public domain?
I think - given the nature of what that photo shows - this is certainly a case the PAS should have issued a statement about. Has it?
Sources:
Anon, ' Metal detector pair sentenced for stealing artefacts', Northants Telegraph, Thursday 20 December 2012
Anon, 'Landmark Ruling for Illegal Metal Detecting: Prison Sentences and ASBOs for Looters of Roman Settlement', English Heritage
20 December 2012
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment