Metal Detecting Gang of Four Sentenced

BBC Gang of metal detectorists sentenced for nighthawking in Hayton Four men from near Sunderland, were found at night scouring private farmland near Hayton in East Yorkshire using metal detectors without permission on 18 March 2022. They been sentenced for nighthawking.

Scott Turton, 43, Andrew Richardson, 43, Marc Scantlebury, 40, and Robert Armstrong, 42, were all given depravation orders for their metal detecting equipment when they were sentenced on 23 February. Armstrong, of Hedworth Terrace, Houghton-Le-Spring, was also handed a 21-week jail term, while Richardson, 43, of Blind Lane, Houghton-Le-Spring, was fined £120. Both Turton, of Bernard Street, Houghton Le Spring, and Scantlebury, of Railway Terrace, Houghton-Le-Spring, were each given a 17-week custodial sentence, suspended for 12 months and fined £350. They all pleaded guilty to criminal damage and going equipped for theft during a court hearing on 21 January.

But, dear oh dear, the BBC forgot to ask an archaeologists to come along and say the ritual "most mewtal detectorists ... and it is only a miniscule minority... and they're all good blokes really", you know, like all archaeologists think.