Detectorist hid rare coins bought on eBay in field

Michael Jones said he hid the coins in "a moment of insanity"

A metal detectorist who pretended he had found medieval silver Crusader coins in a field in Herefordshire has been cleared of fraud by false representation.

Michael Jones, from Port Talbot, was found not guilty by magistrates at Hereford Justice Centre.

The court heard how the 64-year-old had bought the coins off eBay for £200.

If they had been genuinely found in the county, they would have changed the history of Herefordshire and the Welsh borders.

In delivering the verdict, Sue Furnival, the chair of the magistrates told Mr Jones that he did act dishonestly.

"The prosecution has not proved beyond reasonable doubt that you intended to make financial gain," she told the court.

"You did make false representations, but the crown could not prove financial gain therefore we find you not guilty."

The charge against Mr Jones was dismissed.

The silver deniers were made in Antioch, in what is now Turkey, the court heard

In July 2021, he took the coins to Oatcroft Farm in Titley in Herefordshire, the site of a metal detecting weekend held by the K C Rallys club.

The court heard how he had hidden the coins in the ground and then pretended he had found them there.

Giving evidence, he told the court that he had bought the coins online and hid them in the earth "for the fame and bravado that goes with it".

“It was stupid, I know. It was a feel-good thing, I just wanted to make myself look good," he said.

"It was a moment of insanity, I just didn’t think."

Adrian Harris, a fellow member of the K C Rallys club, told the court that Mr Jones had asked him to go to a corner of the field with him.

Mr Harris said he could see some freshly dug holes and that they found the Crusader coins very quickly.

"I was ecstatic, jumping up and down but Mike wasn’t really shocked," he told the magistrates.

Archaeologist Peter Reavill was at the time working as the Finds Liaison Officer for Herefordshire and Shropshire.

He told the court that had the coins been genuinely found in the field "they would have potentially altered the history of Herefordshire".

"They are very rare and very important, especially if they could be linked to the Knight’s Templar," he said.

"Such coins have never been found in the region before."

The court heard the silver deniers were made in Antioch, in what is now Turkey, between 1163 and 1201.

At that time, the land had been captured by crusaders and the coins show a Crusader knight wearing chain-mail and helmet.