On trail of jewels and bin Laden

Experts in Fife yesterday cast doubt on the credibility of Mr Warren’s “spurious” claims.

Fife Council archaeologist Douglas Speirs said: “I trained in marine archaeology too and spent many years diving. I know the reputed Blessing of Burntisland site well and I am intimately familiar with the history of the search for the wreck. That’s why I can say with considerable confidence that Mr Warren is a deluded fantasist.”

Internationally-renowned deep-water marine archaeologist Neil Cunningham Dobson, from St Andrews, said the Royal Navy carried out extensive seabed surveys of the believed site and nothing came of it.

“I doubt Warren has a licence to disturb the seabed and the fact that he checks scientific data by using an ESP mind scan is stupid,” said Mr Dobson.

“Another American group (in the 1990s), I believe, faked a diver finding a spoon of the period. They were using an investor scam to get funding and got in trouble from Lord Lyon for using a heraldic symbol.

Ian Archibald, convener of the Burntisland Heritage Trust, which was involved in the search during the 1990s, said: “I’m not sure if Mr Warren has much credibility. An internet search will reveal his track record.

“The last I heard of him was in 2012 when he claimed to be putting a team together to find Osama bin Laden and then claimed to have found the body off India.”