British Museum: Workers member sacked after gadgets ‘lacking, stolen or broken’

A member of employees on the British Museum has been sacked after jewelry and gems from its assortment had been discovered to be “missing, stolen or damaged”.

In an announcement, the museum in London mentioned the gadgets included “gold jewellery and gems of semi-precious stones and glass dating from the 15th Century BC to the 19th Century AD”.

The majority had been “small pieces kept in a storeroom belonging to one of the museum’s collections”, officers mentioned.

They had been primarily used for tutorial and analysis work and none had not too long ago been on public show.

The museum mentioned it will likely be taking authorized motion towards the unnamed employees member and the Metropolitan Police’s financial and crime command is investigating.

“This is a highly unusual incident,” mentioned director Hartwig Fischer.

Security has already been tightened, he added, and the museum is “working alongside outside experts to complete a definitive account of what is missing, damaged and stolen”.

Former trustee Sir Nigel Boardman and British Transport Police Chief Constable Lucy D’Orsi will probably be main an impartial evaluate and can make suggestions on future safety preparations.

Sir Nigel mentioned: “The British Museum has been the victim of theft and we are absolutely determined to use our review in order to get to the bottom of what happened and ensure lessons are learnt. We are working alongside the Metropolitan Police.”

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Former chancellor George Osborne, who chairs the British Museum, mentioned the trustees had been “extremely concerned when we learned earlier this year that items of the collection had been stolen”.

He added: “We called in the police, imposed emergency measures to increase security, set up an independent review into what happened and lessons to learn, and used all the disciplinary powers available to us to deal with the individual we believe to be responsible.

“Our precedence is now threefold: first, to recuperate the stolen gadgets; second, to seek out out what, if something, might have been finished to cease this; and third, to do no matter it takes, with funding in safety and assortment information, to verify this does not occur once more.”