Stolen Cambridge museum jade still missing 12 years later

Chinese artefacts worth up to £15m were stolen from Cambridge's Fitzwilliam Museum in April 2012

Police have said they are no longer actively looking for millions of pounds worth of jade stolen from a university museum 12 years ago.

Thieves made off with 18 mainly jade items after breaking in to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge on 13 April 2012.

The artefacts, dating from the Ming and Qing dynasties and worth millions of pounds, have never been recovered.

Cambridgeshire Police said the recovery operation was no longer "active".

Fourteen members of a gang were jailed in 2016 for co-ordinating the thefts of the Chinese items and rhino horn - valued at about £57m - taken between November 2011 and April 2012 in various raids in Cambridge, Durham, Norwich and Lewes, East Sussex.

Thieves broke through the rear of the museum, escaping with 18 artefacts

The art was taken from the University of Cambridge's museum at about 19:30 BST in a raid carried out inside a few minutes.

Art theft expert Christopher Marinello, a lawyer and founder of private company Art Recovery International, has been following the fallout of the Fitzwilliam theft.

• Museum raids: How £57m gang was caught

"It's been disappointing that nothing has been recovered," Mr Marinello said.

"We fully expect these items have been embedded in the Chinese market and we probably won't see them again in our lifetime.

"None of them have hit the marketplace as these things usually do."

Christopher Marinello said he had successfully recovered millions of pounds worth of stolen treasure from around the world

Mr Marinello's team scours websites, databases and places where art is bought and sold, but "we've never come across them", Mr Marinello says.

"Thieves quickly try to monetise such things.

"Once they are in Asia, you can quickly say goodbye to seeing them again."

The Fitzwilliam items were likely purchased by private Chinese collectors as "the Chinese market loves jade", he said.

The 14 men jailed for art thefts (top, l-r) Richard Sheridan, Michael Hegarty, Richard O'Brien Jnr, John O'Brien, Daniel O'Brien, Chi Chong Donald Wong, Alan Clarke; (bottom, l-r) Patrick Clarke, John O'Brien, Daniel Flynn, Ashley Dad, Paul Pammen, Robert Gilbert-Smith, Terence McNamara

"This isn't a case of repatriation of cultural heritage. In my view these items were stolen by common thugs who had Chinese buyers," Mr Marinello explained.

"People sometimes romanticise art theft - but it's just for cash - they had a buyer."

Mr Marinello does not believe any of the Fitzwilliam items are likely to surface "until a relative of whoever has them decides they don't like jade and wants to sell - but that won't be anytime soon".

A gang got away with 18 Chinese artefacts, none of which the museum is likely to see again, Mr Marinello said

In 2016, following the sentencing of the art thefts gang, the then-director of the museum, Tim Knox, seemed optimistic the artefacts could be retrieved.

Mr Knox said at the time: "They're very well-known. They're impossible to sell on the open market.

"I have every confidence that they'll eventually come back to us. They're probably under someone's bed to tell you the truth."

However, a spokesperson from the Fitzwilliam Museum declined to comment on whether it was still looking for the items 12 years after they were taken.

They told the BBC: "The theft of the jade from the Fitzwilliam Museum is still a live, open case and as such we wouldn't be able to comment."

Cambridgeshire Police confirmed the case was still open, but added: "While this case isn't active, we will investigate any further lines of inquiry should they come to light in the future."