Yesterdays article in The Times... War centenary boosts profit of heritage thieves Kaya Burgess Published at 12:01AM, July 26 2014 Armed with state-of-the-art metal detectors, diving equipment and explosives, thieves are plundering historic sites around Britain and its coastal waters to cash in on the centenary of the First World War. Increased interest in historic artefacts and shipwrecks, inspired by a series of anniversaries, has brought a heightened risk of theft, leading to an unprecedented crackdown from heritage and maritime bodies. Mark Harrison, a policing and crime adviser at English Heritage, said that the value of artefacts had risen to coincide with key dates, such as the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain in 2010 and the centenary of the First World War. “We’ve certainly seen a correlation with certain anniversaries,” he said. “In 2010, we saw a rise in the price of Battle of Britain artefacts. “We look at what dates are coming up that are likely to attract a commodity market. The risk with the First World War is right up to 2018. If [artefacts] are dug up in an uncontrolled way, we not only lose the artefact, we lose knowledge.” A report by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) last year warned that the First World War centenary could lead to “increased threats and risks to theft from, and damage to, WWI-related sites, buildings, land and seascapes”. The Alliance to Reduce Crime against Heritage was founded in 2011 and English Heritage and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) are working with ACPO to safeguard 500,000 protected sites and buildings. Lighter and more sensitive modern metal detectors can identify the depth of an object and use GPS locators to record finds, said Trevor Austin, secretary of the National Council for Metal Detecting. The Staffordshire Hoard, a Saxon collection of gold and silver discovered in 2009 by Terry Herbert, a legitimate detectorist, was valued at £3.3 million. Mr Harrison works with legitimate hobbyists to crack down on the criminal minority, known as nighthawks, who trespass on private or protected land and remove artefacts without reporting them to the proper authorities. In May, Edward Huzzey and David Knight were convicted for failing to declare £250,000 worth of treasure plundered from shipwrecks, including an East India Company cargo sunk in 1807. The two divers used explosives, cranes and professional cutting equipment to remove crockery, fittings and cannon, over 13 years. Simon May, enforcement officer at the MCA, said: “There’s definitely an increase in this and lots of it going on. They are getting very sophisticated. You can buy side-scanners, like giant metal detectors, quite cheaply now and dredging equipment has come down in price, while scrap prices are really good. “We know of a Roman site of great historical value that has been plundered, and cannon have been recovered from the HMS London, Charles II’s flagship that blew up in 1665, that should never have left the country, but they have.” Chief Constable Andy Bliss, the national police spokesman on heritage crime, said that the economic downturn had prompted criminals to steal items such as memorial plaques to sell as scrap. “Largely we’ve seen theft of metal for the value of the metal,” he said, “but the added public interest of the two world wars may well start to increase prices. This sort of crime is very much driven by economics.” thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/crime/article4158294.ece
Posted on: Sun, 27 Jul 2014 11:02:12 +0000