Yahoo News Metal detectorists sentenced to more than five years in jail
Two metal detectorists have been jailed after failing to declare coins worth over £700,000 as treasure - and trying to sell them illegally.
Craig Best, 46, and Roger Pilling, 75, were sentenced to five years and two months at Durham Crown Court on Thursday following their trial.
They were convicted on two charges of possessing and conspiring to sell criminal property worth £766,000, namely coins believed to have been buried by a Viking in the ninth century.
The coins were discovered in Leominster as part of a larger, undeclared find from 2015 known as the Herefordshire Hoard.
Under the Treasure Act, any metal object believed to be more than 200 years old is owned by the Crown and must be declared to authorities within 14 days.
An undercover police operation was set up after Best tried to sell the coins to a US collector, who then contacted UK-based experts who alerted the authorities.
The sting saw Best set up to believe he was meeting a metals expert employed by a wealthy US buyer - but it was an undercover detective instead.
He was arrested with three coins at a hotel in Durham in May 2019.
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Pilling, of Loveclough, Lancashire, was arrested at home with a further 41 coins before they were both charged in 2021.
The seized treasure included two extremely rare examples of two-headed coins, showing Alfred of Wessex and Ceolwulf, a figure who was discredited by Saxon writers as a Viking puppet ruler. All dated to between 874AD and 879AD.
Judge James Adkin said their offending was aggravated by their plan to sell the coins abroad, saying: "Had they left this country, they would have been likely to be lost to this nation for ever."
He added that a further two coins remained outstanding and had been "hidden away".
Four other people have already been convicted for their roles in concealing the find - including George Powell, 41, and Layton Davies, 54, who were jailed for more than 18 years at Worcester Crown Court in November 2019.
