More on The Ludlow Piedfort

Yesterday (March 2nd 2010) the PAS released a statement on the "First prosecution under the Treasure Act" posted by none other than Roger Bland himself. He writes: "This note provides clarification on a number of points that have either been omitted from the media reports, or have been incorrectly reported". Most of the media reports I have seen follow pretty firmly the text of the press release ( Ludlow Woman Admits Failing To Report Treasure: First Case Of Its Kind In The Country) co-issued by West Mercia Police and the Portable Antiquities Scheme, whose logo appears at its head. Bland however offers some snippets of additional information:

It has been reported that [Ms] Harding found the coin as she worked in the garden with her mother at their home in Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire. She originally told the Finds Liaison Officer that she found it in 2008 in her garden in Ludlow, Shropshire".

Ooops. The distance between the two places is eight kilometres. So whose garden does Mr Bland think it was found in, or was it found in a garden at all? I have said it before, the findspots reported to the PAS are terribly prone to manipulation (or when the find is reported long after being dug up, faulty recollection). Obviously the determination of where the find was actually made must be a task of the upcoming inquest, otherwise the find is just yet another contextless geegaw ("one of only three don't ya know?").

Bland adds that

"[Ms] Harding was repeatedly informed of her legal obligations to report the silver piedfort under the Treasure Act 1996, but failed to do so, so the case was brought to the attention of the local Coroner. The Police investigated the case at the request of the Coroner and passed the file to the Crown Prosecution
Service, which took the decision to prosecute".

So not the fault of the PAS then. Note the use of the passive there. It was "brought to the notice of the Coroner", by whom? (Cf. Art 8(1) of the Treasure Act 1996). We are not told the date when the object was returned to the finder and she was informed of her obligation. This is important as it was taken to the Museum in January 2009, but by April 2009 the police were onto the finder. Many metal detectorists report waiting for "months" to get their finds back from overworked PAS staff, so how quickly was this case processed?