Detectorists admit taking Beeston Castle and Roche Abbey artefacts

The gang were discovered after offering a pair of Bronze Age axe heads to an antiques dealer

A gang of detectorists who took axe heads, coins and artefacts from English Heritage sites to sell to a dealer have been sentenced for nighthawking.

The five men admitted illegally hunting for finds at Beeston Castle in Cheshire and Roche Abbey in South Yorkshire.

Their activities were discovered when holes were found at both sites in December 2019 and police raids of their homes found dozens of items.

The men, aged between 29 and 33, were fined at Chester Magistrates' Court.

The five, who are all from Tameside in Greater Manchester, were given criminal behaviour orders, barring them from metal detecting at any English Heritage or Cadw site in England and Wales.

The men - Curtis Barlow, 32, of The Quadrant, Droylsden; Gary Flanagan, 33, of Winton Avenue, Audenshaw; Daniel James Lloyd, 33, of Beech Avenue, Droylsden; John Andrew Lorne, 29, of Sunnyside Road, Droylsden; and Francis James Ward, 32, of Dingle Drive, Droylsden - must also forfeit all the stolen artefacts and their metal detectors, which Cheshire Police said had an estimated value of about £1,000 each.

Police raids uncovered dozens of stolen artefects and coins in the men's homes

A force spokesman said they were caught when an antiques dealer told police he had been offered two Bronze Age axe heads that had been found at Beeston Castle.

The axe heads have now been gifted to a local museum.

English Heritage properties curator Win Scutt said illegal metal detecting "robs us of our past, and whilst this prosecution is good news, sadly the damage incidents like these cause can never be repaired".

"Unlawful attacks like these can cause insight to be lost forever," he said.

"The ground beneath us is a wonderful library of our past.

"Holes dug by metal detectorists cut through these unread pages, destroying all the information forever... just to tear out a precious trinket that will usually end up lost in a private collection."