George Powell and Layton Davies from South Wales were hunting for treasure with the help of their metal detectors. The two men landed themselves in jail after they found a cache of gold that was worth a whopping £ 12 million.
According to the law, if an individual finds gold or silver coins or jewels that are dated more than 300 years old, they are required to surrender them to the government. The finds then get submitted to the Treasure Valuation Committee, where they are evaluated. The landowners and the person who found the coins usually each get half of the total value.
Detectorists jailed for stealing £12m Viking hoard of gold and silver: Judge tells Layton Davies and George Powell they cheated UK public of seeing rare treasure Two metal detectorists who unearthed an… https://t.co/9tLpHmI2XQ #Crime #Wales #Heritage #UKnews #Culture pic.twitter.com/4vRVUrIf5k
— Women in Forensics (@womeninforensic) November 22, 2019
Notably, Davies was familiar with the law because he had successfully reported his finds to the National Museum of Wales. The New South Wales native had found more than a hundred coins in the past that he had to surrender.
On one of the days that the duo was out on their usual trips to find treasure, they actually struck gold. Davies and Powell found a cache of gold from the Viking era. The treasure consisted of jewels and coins that were worth approximately £ 12 million.
The first error they made was not informing the authorities that they were in possession of the treasure. They then went on to declare to the world that they had gotten their hands on the massive find after posting about it on social media. They also sold several of the jewels and coins they found to several antique dealers.
George Powell, from Kirby Lane in Newport & Layton Davies, from Cardiff Road in Pontypridd will be sentenced at a later date. pic.twitter.com/QL7h7X9mFb
— Hits Radio News | West Midlands (@HitsWestMidNews) November 21, 2019
They eventually declared a part of their collection to the museum, which led to their getting arrested. The duo had been ordered by the court to surrender the treasure and pay back what they had taken from it. Both men failed to do so, which led to them being arrested again.
Davies was imprisoned, but his partner in crime, Powell, fled the law. He has managed to stay on the run to date. Davies has urged him to turn himself in, while adding, “I wish I could speak to him and talk some sense into him.”
Powell, on the other hand, has gone as far as to blatantly mock the law. The Gwent Police’s Facebook account had posted urging people to report any details about the fugitive. Powell took to the comments section of the post to complain about the fact that he did not like the mugshots that were posted.
Detectorists stole Viking hoard that ‘rewrites history’: Two metal detectorists stole a $3.86 million dollar Viking hoard that experts say has the potential to “rewrite history.” George Powell & Layton Davies dug up about 300 coins in a field in Eye near @ https://t.co/lwI2LVqjyx pic.twitter.com/vvU03chjdZ
— Schnack’s Jewelry (@SchnacksJewelry) November 22, 2019
Powell was found guilty and asked to serve six and a half years, while Davies was given a five-year sentence. According to a BBC podcast, 200 coins out of the treasure still remain unaccounted for. After serving their initial sentences, the court ordered the duo to pay £600,000 as a punishment.
Davies was able to pay half of the ordered amount and was sentenced to serve a second sentence. Powell decided that he did not want to go back to jail and chose to live the life of a fugitive. According to a court trial, he is in possession of “worth millions of pounds.”
