Convictions in Leominster Stealing History Case

Layton Davies, George Powell (top), Paul Wells and Simon Wicks
were convicted by a jury at Worcester Crown Court (Photo: West Mercia Police)

Four artefact hunters and two dealers have been convicted of theft and concealment of a Treasure find after they failed to report a ninth century hoard and instead tried pass the finds onto the commercial market. It seems that as much as 90% of the hoard is still missing (BBC, 'Detectorists stole Viking hoard that 'rewrites history'' 21 Nov 2019)

George Powell and Layton Davies dug up about 300 coins in a field in Eye, near Leominster, Herefordshire, in 2015. They did not declare the 1,100-year-old find, said to be one of the biggest to date, and instead sold it to dealers. They were convicted of theft and concealing their find. Coin sellers Simon Wicks and Paul Wells were also convicted on the concealment charge. The hoard included a 9th Century gold ring, a dragon's head bracelet, a silver ingot and a crystal rock pendant. Just 31 coins - worth between £10,000 and £50,000 - and some pieces of jewellery have been recovered, but the majority is still missing. "They must be concealed in one or more places or by now having been concealed have been dispersed never to be reassembled as a hoard of such coinage again," prosecutor, Kevin Hegarty QC, said. During their trial at Worcester Crown Court, Powell, 38, of Newport, and Davies, 51, of Pontypridd, had denied deliberately ignoring the Treasure Act, which demands significant finds be declared. [...] As the verdicts were read out, an ambulance was called for Wells who became unwell. Court was adjourned until Friday for sentencing and the other defendants were remanded in custody.

The men in court (BBC)

This is another hoard of coins of Alfred the Great and Ceolwulf II of Mercia and was buried around the year 879. Once again the trope is trotted out that hoards like these in some way " provide fresh information about the unification of England and [...] enable us to re-interpret our history at a key moment in the creation of England as a single kingdom". Hooray.

When Powell and Davies made their discovery in June 2015, they did not inform the farmer who owned the field and instead contacted dealers to find out the worth of the items. A month later, they contacted the National Museum of Wales but only declared one coin each and three items of jewellery. Both men claimed talk of a 300-coin hoard had been a rumour, but suspicions were aroused and police began to investigate. They recovered deleted photos on Davies's phone which showed the hoard intact in a freshly dug hole. The court heard the detectorists had been meeting Wicks, from Hailsham, and Wells, from Cardiff, to release the coins on to the market. Wicks, Powell and Davies were also found guilty of converting the stolen hoard into cash after police traced several coins which had been sold to private collectors. Wells told the court he knew the coins should be declared, but was himself found to have hidden five in a magnifying glass handle. 

Interestingly, this find seems to have prodded some action:

Amanda Blakeman, West Mercia Police's Deputy Chief Constable, said [...]  "It's absolutely critical that we protect our heritage, our history, and we bring offenders to justice who are looking to profit from something that is owned by the community," she said. Ms Blakeman has recently been appointed as the national leader for heritage and cultural crime and has established police and expert networks to help tackle these "complex and protracted" investigations in the future. "We must recover that property and we must cut off those markets that are available to be able to disperse our history, not only across this country, but across the world," she said. 

and about time too.