A MAN who was convicted of stealing the Viking and Anglo-Saxon Herefordshire treasure hoard has been handed a further five years three months behind bars after failing to repay a £670,000 confiscation order.
The hoard, valued at more than £3.2m and only a quarter of which has been recovered, was found by Layton Davies and fellow South Wales detectorist George Powell near Leominster in 2015.
But instead of declaring the amazing find, they kept it secret and sold the treasure, which included stunning coins and jewellery.
After the theft was discovered, they were jailed for eight and a half years and 10 years respectively in 2019 (later reduced to five and six on appeal), and were ordered to cough up £1.2m between them or face more jail time in December 2022.
The recovered items – including a 9th Century gold ring, a crystal rock pendant, a dragon's head bracelet, an ingot and 30 coins – will be the centrepiece of the redeveloped county museum in Hereford, which is set to cost £21m.
Three hundred coins, valued at some £2.4m, are still believed to be missing.
Experts think the treasure was buried between 870 and 878, and provides fresh information on previously unknown alliances between the ancient kings of Mercia and Wessex, plus previously unknown evidence of the Viking 'Great Army' entering modern day Herefordshire.
Davies, 57, from Pontypridd, and Powell, from Newport - both of whom knew they would have been entitled to half the value of the treasure, but who chose to sell it secretly – were found guilty of theft, conspiracy to conceal criminal property and conspiracy to convert criminal property.
A West Mercia Police spokesperson said: "Davies only repaid around half of the confiscation order. From this, the land owners and those who were sold coins by Davies from the horde which were later seized, received some reimbursement.
"The conviction followed a lengthy investigation by West Mercia Police following several reports from the metal detecting community and the British Museum of an unreported large treasure find near Eye in Herefordshire in 2015.
"It was discovered that Davies had visited the site of the hoard, which included coins, jewellery and silver ingots during Spring 2015.
"He not only failed to disclose the extent of the discovery he was involved in - a requirement under the Treasure Act 1996 - but also sold a large number of the items for significant personal financial gain.
"The treasure was described by experts as being of national importance."
DC Stevyn Pritchett from the Economic Crime Unit said “This case exemplifies how seriously the police and courts take financial crime, and the significant implications of failing to repay confiscation orders.
"Davies will still be liable to repay the outstanding amount, even when his extended sentence is served. Criminals cannot profit from their actions.
“I’d like to thank everyone involved in this unusual case, including Herefordshire County Council’s conservation and environment team and The British Museum, for their support throughout the justice process.”
Debbie Price, Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor of the CPS Proceeds of Crime Division, said: “Greed led Layton Davies to ignore his duty to report the found treasure and instead sell it for his own benefit.
“An experienced detectorist, Davies would have known he was entitled to half of the proceeds of legal sale of the treasure, instead choosing to deprive the landowner and public by stealing this exceptional and significant treasure.
“This case shows that the CPS takes our duty to ensure crime doesn’t pay seriously, Davies has failed to pay so we have taken him back to court and his additional default sentence means he now faces a further five years in prison.”