Durham man had 'no idea' selling Anglo-Saxon coins was illegal

Police previously said the recovered coins were similar to these four from the British Museum

A man accused of trying to sell Anglo-Saxon coins valued at £766,000 had no idea they were criminal property, Durham Crown Court has been told.

Craig Best, 46, of South View, Bishop Auckland, was arrested in May 2019 following an undercover police sting.

Best is accused of possessing criminal property and conspiring to sell criminal property alongside fellow defendant Roger Pilling, of Lancashire.

The coins are thought to be from a previously buried Viking hoard.

'Undercover sting'

The court heard the coins were extremely rare and should have been declared as treasure and given to the Crown.

They are believed to be part of the Herefordshire Hoard - a multimillion-pound haul found by two detectorists in 2015 who did not declare the find as "treasure" and instead sold items to dealers.

Giving evidence in his defence, Craig Best said he had known co-accused Mr Pilling, 74, for 10 years.

They were keen metal detectorists but had no discussion about selling the coins, he said.

He claimed Mr Pilling had told him that he had bought the coins before the Treasure Act 1996 was brought into law.

Ron Bude, a coin expert in America, was contacted by Best to confirm whether the coins were genuine, the court heard, but became suspicious and contacted colleagues in the UK which led to the undercover sting.

'Searches on internet'

Mr Best told the court he would not have got involved had he known the coins were part of a hoard.

"I have young children. I wouldn't have taken that risk because dealing with them would have been illegal," he said.

"I wasn't one hundred percent sure what they were. I was just trying to get them checked out."

He was also asked why he had carried out searches on the internet about previous hoards found.

He said: "I'm a detectorist. That's what we do."

Asked if at any point he knew or believed the coins to be criminal property, he said "no".

Both defendants deny the charges and the trial continues.