Suspect in British Museum theft scandal named as veteran 30-year curator

The man accused of stealing priceless artefacts from the British museum is a senior curator of 30 years, in response to The Telegraph.

Peter Higgs, who misplaced his job because the curator of Mediterranean cultures earlier this 12 months, is a number one knowledgeable on antiquities and has written books to accompany a number of the museum’s flagship collections.

His household have stated he’s harmless and that they anticipate him to clear his identify.

The 56-year-old father-of-two had labored on the internationally famend museum since 1993, nonetheless was sacked after his bosses accused him of stealing a number of gadgets, together with gold jewelry, semi-precious stones and glass from between 1,500BC and the 1800s.

The gadgets vanished over numerous years and some had emerged on eBay way back to 2016.

Greg Higgs, the curator’s 21-year-old son, instructed The Telegraph: “He’s with family currently for a bit of support because it’s been very hard, losing half of our income pretty suddenly. 

“At this level he doesn’t even actually care what folks consider him, he simply desires an opportunity to stay a standard life.”

“It will get to that time generally the place even in the event you’re harmless you’d simply quite not have everybody converse to you on a regular basis about it, at the very least from the museum.

“He’s lost all faith in the museum.”

Earlier, Sky News’ Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt stated: “I think the museum must be pretty embarrassed about what seems to have been an inside job, or at least a theft with some inside help, because it certainly lept into action.”

His feedback got here after an announcement from Hartwig Fischer, director of the British Museum, who stated: “The museum apologises for what has happened, but we have now brought an end to this – and we are determined to put things right.

“We have already tightened our safety preparations and we’re working alongside exterior consultants to finish a definitive account of what’s lacking, broken and stolen. This will enable us to throw our efforts into the restoration of objects.”

George Osborne, chairman of the British Museum, was uncompromising in his position. 

He said: “The trustees of the British Museum had been extraordinarily involved after we learnt earlier this 12 months that gadgets of the gathering had been stolen.

“The trustees have taken decisive action to deal with the situation, working with the team at the museum.

“We referred to as within the police, imposed emergency measures to extend safety, arrange an unbiased overview into what occurred and classes to be taught, and used all of the disciplinary powers accessible to us to take care of the person we consider to be accountable.”