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A judge has ordered a former curator who the British Museum says stole tons of of artifacts to return any gems or jewellery from the establishment which are in his possession.
The museum claims that the previous curator, Peter Higgs, who as soon as ran the museum’s Greek and Roman antiquities division, stole or broken over 1,800 artifacts from its collections and bought tons of of these gadgets on eBay, based on court docket paperwork.
Officials additionally need Mr. Higgs to elucidate the whereabouts of different artifacts that they says the previous curator bought on-line. The court docket paperwork state that Mr. Higgs disputes the accusations in opposition to him.
At a High Court listening to in London, the presiding judge, Heather Williams, ordered Mr. Higgs to return any gadgets inside 4 weeks. Judge Williams additionally ordered PayPal, the web funds firm, to reveal knowledge referring to Mr. Higgs’s eBay accounts, together with his transaction historical past.
The lacking museum gadgets embody engraved gems and jewellery, a few of that are hundreds of years outdated.
On Tuesday, Mr. Higgs and his household didn’t reply to emails and social media messages from The Times. In court docket papers, the museum’s legal professionals mentioned the curator was “affected by extreme psychological pressure” and was “unable to reply successfully to the proceedings.”
Since the museum introduced the thefts in August, it has solely recovered round 350 of the lacking artifacts.
The London police are investigating, however a spokeswoman for the drive mentioned in an e-mail on Wednesday that it had not charged anybody in reference to the lacking artifacts.
The museum mentioned in court docket paperwork that it had “compelling proof” that between 2009 and 2018, Mr. Higgs “abused his place of belief inside the museum” to take artifacts, together with gadgets that the museum hadn’t absolutely registered in its catalog. Mr. Higgs then bought lots of them on eBay to at the very least 45 totally different consumers, the museum says. Those consumers allegedly embody folks from the United States and Denmark.
In the submitting, the museum additionally accuses the previous curator of trying to cowl up the thefts by altering the museum’s digital catalog, together with altering descriptions of lacking gadgets.
Although British newspapers had lengthy reported that Mr. Higgs was the curator on the middle of the scandal, Tuesday’s listening to was the primary time that the museum had named him.
When the museum fired Mr. Higgs for gross misconduct in July, he had been working there for over 30 years. In 2021, the museum promoted Mr. Higgs to appearing keeper of its Greek and Roman division — an vital place overseeing a number of the museum’s most treasured artifacts, together with the disputed Parthenon Marbles.
Mr. Higgs curated a number of blockbuster British Museum reveals, together with a 2016 exhibition on Sicilian historical past. Another of his exhibitions, “Ancient Greeks: Athletes Warriors and Heroes,” toured to Australia and China.
The museum’s authorized workforce instructed the court docket that the establishment was attempting to compel Mr. Higgs to offer particulars concerning the gadgets it says he stole as a result of there was a threat they may quickly “change into irrecoverable.”
“So lengthy because the gadgets are at massive, restoration of the stolen gadgets turns into harder as gadgets are bought and resold, doubtlessly throughout borders,” the museum’s legal professionals instructed the court docket. “The sooner the museum is ready to contact different consumers,” it provides, “the extra doubtless it’s that additional property shall be recovered.”
