A London court has issued an order for a former curator of the Ancient Greek collections at the British Museum, Mr Peter Higgs, who was accused of stealing hundreds of artefacts.
Reuters reported that Mr Higgs has now been asked to list all items that were stolen from the Museum, and return them.
After being dismissed for the alleged thefts, Mr Higgs will now face a civil lawsuit from the museum, however he has not been criminally charged.
Some of the stolen artefacts include ancient Greek and Roman jewellery.
Despite Mr Higgs not attending his hearing, the Museum’s lawyers have taken legal action to recover the missing items.
“While the full extent of the thefts is unknown, it is presently believed that over 1,800 items were stolen or damaged and that many hundreds of them were sold or offered for sale by (Higgs),” the Museum’s lawyer, Daniel Burgess, said.
Mr Burgess further added that Higgs tried to “cover his tracks by, among other things, using false names, creating false documents and manipulating records held on the Museum’s IT systems.”
“The British Museum has had 356 items returned so far,” Mr Burgess added.
Source: Reuters.
