Guilty: "Property of a Gentleman" Antiquities "bought in Souvenir Shop"

Martin Bailey and Melanie Gerlis, 'Guilty plea over antiquities' Art Newspaper, Issue 249, 5th September 2013

Neil Kingsbury, of Northwood, London, has pleaded guilty to charges relating to the provenance of Egyptian antiquities that were consigned to Bonhams and Christie’s.   [...] Christie’s was originally told that the six items had been inherited by the consignor from his uncle, who had served in Egypt during the Second World War and stayed there for a few years afterwards before returning to the UK.  [...] Kingsbury, aged 63, appeared at Uxbridge magistrates’ court on 20 August on four charges. He pleaded guilty to the first three, relating to fraud by making false representations on items offered to three auctions: at Bonhams (five items, four of which were offered in one lot), an earlier Christie’s sale (one item) and Christie’s auction in May (seven lots). However, Kingsbury pleaded not guilty to a further charge of being in possession of stolen property (the Nubian prisoner). The prosecution said that Kingsbury had bought the items at a souvenir shop in Egypt. His lawyer said that he was of “good character” and “did not plan to commit a crime”, and that he had “no knowledge that [the Nubian prisoner] was stolen property”. 

Hmmmm? He "bought the [14] items in a souvenir shop" IN Egypt and brought them out and it never occurred to him that he might be doing something illegal? Where do you hide fourteen antiquities in your suitcase?

A spokesman for Christie’s says: “This case shows how our procedures, our due diligence and the transparent and public nature of our sales combine to make our saleroom highly unattractive to those engaged in the illicit trade.” 

Oh, pleeeeease... ("A spokesman for Bonhams says: “As with every item sold by Bonhams, a check had been made with the Art Loss Register and with a number of other experts and institutions, none of whom expressed concern about this lot”).

Kingsbury was released on bail, he's due to appear at a hearing in November and later face trial on the Nubian piece. I don't suppose he can remember which "shop" he bought them in?