British Museum Worker Accused for Stealing Artefact

Sudan Events

A former British Museum worker under suspicion over the disappearance of around 2,000 items is not cooperating with an investigation, the institution has said.
Senior curator Peter Higgs was sacked after the items, worth millions of pounds, were found to be missing, stolen or damaged.
He had worked at the institution in London for 30 years but is accused of stealing artefacts including Roman gems.
Some of the artefacts were sold on eBay for as little as a few pounds.

Mr Higgs has denied any wrongdoing, and his family have said he is “not happy about it at all”.

The museum is taking legal action and a police investigation is under way.

But museum chairman George Osborne said the former staff member the organisation believes is behind the artefacts vanishing had been refusing to help with the probe.

“One of the things that we’ve got to get to the bottom of is exactly the motivation of the individual who we believe is responsible, but he has not been talking or cooperating,” he said.

Mr Osborne told the Culture, Media and Sport Committee in October: “We were the victims of an inside job by someone, we believe, who over a long period of time was stealing from the museum and the museum put trust in.

“There are lots of lessons to be learnt as a result of that, the member of staff has been dismissed by us.”

Mr Higgs’ son, Greg, previously said that he had “not done anything” and was “not happy about it at all”.

“He’s lost his job and his reputation and I don’t think it was fair,” he said.