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Museum raids gang guilty over Chinese art and rhino thefts Museum raids gang guilty over Chinese art and rhino thefts
(35 minutes later)
Fourteen members of an organised crime gang have been convicted over their roles in stealing artefacts worth up to £57m from museums and an auction house.Fourteen members of an organised crime gang have been convicted over their roles in stealing artefacts worth up to £57m from museums and an auction house.
Items including Chinese jade and rhino horn were stolen in Cambridge, Durham, Norwich and Lewes, East Sussex.Items including Chinese jade and rhino horn were stolen in Cambridge, Durham, Norwich and Lewes, East Sussex.
The men, from Cambridgeshire, Essex, Kent, London, the West Midlands and Northern Ireland, were convicted of conspiracy to burgle.The men, from Cambridgeshire, Essex, Kent, London, the West Midlands and Northern Ireland, were convicted of conspiracy to burgle.
The case can now be reported after the final four were found guilty.The case can now be reported after the final four were found guilty.
The gang members were convicted during a series of trials at Birmingham Crown Court. They were described as some of the gang's "generals", who helped to plan and oversee a string of offences.
John "Kerry" O'Brien of Dale Farm, Oak Lane, Billericay, Essex, and Richard "Kerry" O'Brien, Michael Hegarty and Daniel "Turkey" O'Brien, all from Smithy Fen, Cambridgeshire, were found guilty by a jury after a two-month trial at Birmingham Crown Court.
Ten others, dubbed the "Rathkeale Rovers" were convicted at earlier hearings.
The gang was involved in two thefts and an attempted theft at Durham University Oriental Museum as well as further incidents at Gorringes Auction House in Lewes, Norwich Castle Museum and the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.
Jurors heard exhibits stolen in Durham and Cambridge were valued at about £17m but detectives believed they could have fetched up to £57m ($79m) on the "booming" Chinese auction market.
Lead investigator Det Supt Adrian Green, of Durham Police, said the thefts "dwarfed" the Hatton Garden bank vault raid in which items worth about £14m were stolen.
"If you think the Hatton Gardens break-in was big, this will blow that out of the water," he said.
The most high-profile of the gang's raids involved the theft of Chinese artefacts.
On 5 April 2012, a jade bowl dating from 1769 and a porcelain figurine - which were worth up to £2m - were taken from the Durham museum after thieves smashed a hole in a wall.
They later "hid" the items in a field and then forgot where. They were recovered and returned to the museum.
Six people were sentenced for the theft, which the judge described as "a complete farce".
Eight days later, on 13 April 2012, 18 jade artefacts were stolen in a raid at Cambridge University's Fitzwilliam Museum. Believed to be worth up to £15m, the items were described as being of "incalculable cultural significance".
Five months later three men were jailed and a boy, 16, was given a detention order. The items have never been recovered.
Despite a number of people being jailed for the various thefts, police said "it soon became apparent an international organised crime group was planning and commissioning the jobs".
A number of the defendants were arrested during co-ordinated raids by officers from 26 forces and the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) in September 2013.A number of the defendants were arrested during co-ordinated raids by officers from 26 forces and the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) in September 2013.
The 40 raids were made in connection with a series of crimes between November 2011 and April 2012. The 40 raids were made in connection with the crimes, which took place between November 2011 and April 2012.
There were two thefts and an attempted theft at Durham University Oriental Museum as well as further incidents at Gorringes Auction House in Lewes, Norwich Castle Museum and the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.