Sunday 9 May 2021

Men Who Trashed Scheduled Sites and Stole Artefacts Sentenced


I have covered this case several times here. The court case has ended: Fines, bans and forfeiture of metal detectors in the case of the five men who stole artefacts from Beeston Castle and Roche Abbey.
Gallery of UK metal detectorists on a bad haircut day

They can always get another metal detector or borrow from a friend. All five of them got to these two sites (not in Tameside) by car. Their cars were equipment necessary to carry out the thefts. The cars should be forfeit too. That'll STOP them doing it again. 

Archaeologists are applauding, going bonkers retweeting the news. As if that means that the 27000 others are not actually doing damage to tens of thousands of sites on a weekly basis. Archaeology has flexed its muscles, feels good that there is some "control" (as Peter Tompa would say of them) and moves on. "Mission Accomplished"? Pathetic.

7 comments:

Brian Mattick said...

Phrenology anyone?

Paul Barford said...

Each picture worth a thousand words.

Duncan Finch said...

For a change you’re right. These guys should have been thrown into the slammer for ten years each. Everything they used to facilitate their actions - I.e. cars, equipment, etc., - should be fofeited, and if , after their homes were searched by the police, anything they might have used in their raids should be seized too. Going further, their prison sentences could be reduced if they grassed on all the people to whom they sold their finds. How about that?

Duncan Finch said...

Oddly enough but you’re actually right for a change. But you don’t go far enough. These guys should get 10 years in prison each. Everything they used to facilitate their actions should be seized and forfeited - I.e., all equipment, all means of transportation, reference works and maps kept at their homes, etc.
Their homes and any storage areas should be searched as well and any and all records of their previous illegal activities should be checked. Any assets they have that can be proved to have been acquired through illegal activities should be seized as well. That might serve as a serious deterrent, no?

Duncan Finch said...

Oddly enough but you’re actually right for a change. But you don’t go far enough. These guys should get 10 years in prison each. Everything they used to facilitate their actions should be seized and forfeited - I.e., all equipment, all means of transportation, reference works and maps kept at their homes, etc.
Their homes and any storage areas should be searched as well and any and all records of their previous illegal activities should be checked. Any assets they have that can be proved to have been acquired through illegal activities should be seized as well. That might serve as a serious deterrent, no?

Duncan Finch said...

Oddly enough but you’re actually right for a change. But you don’t go far enough. These guys should get 10 years in prison each. Everything they used to facilitate their actions should be seized and forfeited - I.e., all equipment, all means of transportation, reference works and maps kept at their homes, etc.
Their homes and any storage areas should be searched as well and any and all records of their previous illegal activities should be checked. Any assets they have that can be proved to have been acquired through illegal activities should be seized as well. That might serve as a serious deterrent, no?

Paul Barford said...

Why do you assume that all the lawbreakers sell their finds?

 
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