Metal detectorists convicted of trying to sell £3m Viking treasure hoard on black market

The real reason why metal detectorists are often cagey about what they found where? A pair of metal detectorists have been convicted of stealing a hoard of Viking coins and jewellery potentially worth £3m – much of which is still missing (Jon Sharman Metal detectorists convicted of trying to sell £3m Viking treasure hoard on black market 21 Nov 2019). 

George Powell and Layton Davies covered up their once-in-a-lifetime discovery  [...] and planned to sell it off in small batches. [...] By law, the experienced detectorists should have reported their rare discovery but instead decided to sell the items in small batches on the black market. [...] Davies, who elected to give evidence in his defence, claimed he and Powell retrieved the jewellery from two separate holes – but photographs taken on his phone which he later deleted, but police recovered, clearly showed the trove as one. One of the images appeared to show considerably more silver ingots than the single block found by police, but the men claimed they were just bullet casings. [...]  All four defendants denied the charges but were convicted after a jury of six men and six women deliberated for eight and a half hours following a seven-week trial.