Metal detectoring thieves get ASBOs!

Police take casts of the tool marks left behind

In an awesome move, two men who were caught using metal detectors on a protected archaeological site, and had "A large amount of Iron Age, Roman and medieval coins, metal artefacts and pottery" at their homes, have been properly  taken to task for it.

They pleaded guilty and received two year suspended sentences, 150 hours of community service, a curfew, confiscation of metal detecting equipment, £750 compensation for damage caused to the scheduled monument, AND Anti-Social Behaviour Orders that restrict use of metal detecting equipment. 

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" Once the artefacts are removed from the ground and sold the valuable knowledge they contain is lost for ever. This is a notoriously difficult crime to prosecute and convict. We are very grateful to the police and CPS in this case whose partnership working is an example we would wish to see elsewhere.” 

Mike Harlow, Governance and Legal Director of English Heritage

“This practice of illegal metal detecting and stealing artefacts from the ground has been a growing problem, which the Crown Prosecution Service takes seriously. Often carried out by so-called ‘enthusiasts’, this kind of activity has retained a veneer of respectability which it just does not deserve." 

Mark Holmes, senior crown prosecutor and heritage crime co-ordinator for CPS East Midlands,

Find the full story here:
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/about/news/heritagecrime/

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