Police hunt metal detectorist who uncovered and stole £3million hoard of Viking gold
Police hunt metal detectorist who uncovered and stole £3million hoard of Viking gold
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Police are searching for a metal detectorist convicted of stealing a £3 million Viking hoard of gold after he failed to appear in court. George Powell failed to declare he and fellow detectorist Layton Davies had unearthed invaluable coins and other jewellery dating back 1,100 years. The pair attempted to cash in on their haul by selling the items on the black market following the find in 2015.
The pair unearthed the hoard near farmland in Eye, Herefordshire, which included a ninth-century gold ring, a dragon's head bracelet, a silver ingot, a fifth crystal rock pendant and up to 300 coins, some from the reign of King Alfred - also known as Alfred the Great who reigned between 886 and 899.
Powell had been due to appear in court earlier this month for failing to repay £600,000 ordered by a judge at the time he was jailed for six and a half years. A warrant was issued for his arrest after he failed to appear for his sentencing hearing at Birmingham Magistrates' Court on January 8.
Only 31 of the coins - worth between £10,000 and £50,000 - and pieces of jewellery have ever been recovered, with the majority of the hoard still missing. Powell and Davies, along with coin sellers Paul Wells and Simon Wicks were convicted of conspiring to conceal the treasure in 2019.
Sentencing at the time, Judge Nicholas Cartwright said they had "cheated the public" by concealing the treasure which "belonged to the nation." He said: "You acted in a way which was greedy and selfish. "You clumsily dug out everything you could find and put the soil back and left without speaking to the farmer, the farmer's mother or anybody else. If you had obtained the permissions and agreements responsible metal detectorists are advised to obtain and had gone on to act within the law, you could have expected to have had a half share or third share of £3 million to share between the two of you.
