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| Nothing to see here, move along |
According to a letter received by the NCMD, the Finds Liaison Officers, Pauline Clarke and Alex Whitlock are again "now accepting finds" on behalf of the PAS Lancashire and Cumbria. Readers are also informed that:
The present police investigation is ongoing and a great many of the finders [and landowners? PMB] have recently been informed of the successful recovery of items linked to this investigation.What does this mean? An arrest was reportedly made in December 2022 ('More on Empty Storeroom Shelves' PACHI; thePipeLine ', Arrest in Preston Museum Missing Treasure Investigation' December 22, 2022.
The news broke in November 2022 and concerned items missing/lost by Lancashire FLO and/or LANCUM, several hoards stored during the Treasure process "and many, many, valuable single items". Allegations were made that in one case the finder [and landowner] on being informed of the loss were asked to "keep it quiet", and that "the thefts are thought to have been occurring for a period of over a decade and it's all been hushed up!".
I have been given the (to be accurate, alleged) name of a person arrested when some "objects were found". Therre has been precious little further information since December. Neither is it clear if the "found" items mentioned in the letter to the NCMD are those relocated in December, or fresh ones. In the light of the recent discussions about items missing from the Bloomsbury headquarters of the British Museum, we may note the fresh significance of this text cited in my earlier post (Post by geoman » Sat Nov 26, 2022 3:44 pm):
It would appear that the system of keeping quiet has been to protect reputations and perhaps the guilty. Often the explanation has been that items have gone astray and are missing without any hint of them actually stolen by a third party There have always been hints of malpractice in the academic world with experts allowed to peruse museum store rooms and collection in the pursuit of their research and so on. Naturally some will have had sticky fingers and to preserve reputations cover ups seem to have been the norm. Proving what has gone on is very difficult as the museum establishment will simply close ranks.
It is time for the PAS to come clean and explain their version of what actually is going on. When do they anticipate we will hear of any charges pressed, or whether the case is dropped?
2 comments:
And now we are nearly 17 months gone and both my hoards are still in police everdance. How can you get caught with 100s of treasure finds in your properties and still be on bail . The police was ment to hand everdance to the cps end of march, I have emailed the police officer dealing with it 4 weeks ago and no reply. Also the police have been working on this case part time wich is a disgrace . If a detectorist stole treasure there would be hell to pay , but a flo it's a cover up
I sympathise utterly. I do not know the detailed ins and outs of this case and make no judgement on guilt. I agree, IF the pieces went missing under PAS control, then this needs elucidating, not a cover-up. I would also agree that 17 months is more than enough time to finish an investigation like this. What are they doing? I would suggest that, instead of your interpretation (and anyway, "innocent until proven guilty", OK?), the foot-dragging is related to UK police reluctance [and perhaps lack of competence] to touch anything antiquities-related in the UK. What appearsd from the outside to be simple, in terms of police procedure in the UK, I know from my own discussions that there are some complications (that need to be removed) We have several cases where evidence is gathered and ... nothing further happens. We think of the Hobby Lobby papyri, the British Museum case (and some others that are not in the news out there - I'd like to be able to say "yet" but am pessimistic about the chances). This whole area is a swamp and the UK refuses to take control. Please keep on at them, this needs resolution. And I think the PAS need to loook at teh whole legal framework of how they handle other people's finds. They say they have done this, but.... ?
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