Treasure gang cheat Britain of a Viking hoard

Jail over £12m buried haul that vanished

TWO METAL detectorists have been jailed for stealing a Viking hoard of coins and priceless jewellery worth up to £12m – much of which is still missing.

George Powell, 38, and Layton Davies, 51, failed to declare the invaluable collection of buried treasure dating back 1,100 years to the birth of a united English kingdom during the time of Alfred the Great.

The items, many of which were Anglo Saxon but are typical of a Viking burial hoard, were dug up on farmland in Leominster, Herefordshire, on June 2, 2015.

It is thought the haul was buried by someone in the Great Viking Army in either 878 or 879, which by then was being forced back east by an alliance of Saxon forces.

Powell, who was described as having the leading role, was jailed for 10 years while caretaker Davies received eight and a half years.

Both were also convicted alongside two other men, 60-year-old Paul Wells and Simon Wicks, 57, of conspiring to conceal the find. Wicks was jailed for five years. Sentencing them at Worcester Crown Court, Judge Nicholas Cartwright said they had cheated not only the landowner but the public of “exceptionally rare and significant” coins.

He said: “Ninety per cent of

the coins or thereabouts remain hidden to this day. All four defendants played their respective parts.

“You, Simon Wicks, were part of a conspiracy to conceal the stolen treasure and to sell it.

“Paul Wells, who will be sentenced a on future occasion, was part of a conspiracy to conceal part of the stolen treasure.”

He added: “The irony in this case is if you, George Powell, and you, Layton Davies, had obtained the permission and agreement which responsible metal detectorists are advised to obtain, if you had gone on to act within the law after you found this treasure you could have expected to have either a half share, or at very worst a third share of over £3m to share between the two of you.”

Among the priceless hoard was a ninth century gold ring, a dragon’s head bracelet, a silver ingot, a crystal rock pendant dating to the fifth century and up to 300 coins, some from the reign of King Alfred.

Only 31 of the coins have been recovered, although mobile phone photographs on Davies’s phone – later deleted but recovered by police – showed the larger hoard, still intact, in a freshly dug hole.

Expert analysis of all the jewellery and coinage recovered to date and now held at the British Museum returned a valuation of at least £581,000.

Wicks, Powell and Davies were also found guilty of converting their ill-gotten gains into cash after police traced several coins that had been sold to private collectors, hidden away or left with expert valuers.

Powell, of Newport, Davies, of Pontypridd, Wells, of Cardiff, and Wicks, from Hailsham, East Sussex, were also convicted after trial of ignoring the law stating such finds must be properly declared.

Wells was not present in court after being taken ill on Thursday and is due to be sentenced next month.