Metal Detectorist Ordered to Repay £103,000 After Attempting to Sell Rare Anglo-Saxon Coins
A County Durham man has been ordered to pay back £103,000 after attempting to illegally sell rare Anglo-Saxon coins dating back over a millennium.
Roger Pilling, 77, was convicted last year after he tried to sell 46 coins, believed to have been buried by a Viking around 879AD, to an undercover police officer posing as a buyer from the United States. Among the hoard were two exceptionally rare “Two Emperor” coins, jointly issued by King Alfred the Great of Wessex and Ceolwulf II of Mercia.
The coins, valued collectively at more than £766,000, were part of a larger hoard found in Leominster, Herefordshire. However, Pilling and his co-accused, Craig Best of Bishop Auckland, failed to declare the find as treasure, a legal requirement under the Treasure Act 1996.
Following his conviction, the Crown Prosecution Service’s Proceeds of Crime Division successfully obtained a Confiscation Order against Pilling for the value of two missing coins, after the court rejected his claim that he had damaged them beyond repair.
Of the 46 coins Pilling attempted to sell, 41 were recovered during the original police operation. To date, only 72 coins from the original 300-coin hoard have been recovered.
Adrian Foster, Chief Crown Prosecutor for the CPS Proceeds of Crime Division, said: “Roger Pilling intended to sell these rare and important coins for his own gain. Instead of reporting a crime, he chose to profit from stolen treasure. This order reflects our commitment to ensuring that crime does not pay.”
The confiscation order was calculated based on the assets available to Pilling. The recovered coins remain the property of the Crown.
