Metal detectorists jailed for conspiring to sell rare Anglo-Saxon coins

Craig Best and Roger Pilling tried to illegally sell ninth-century coins worth £766,000

Two metal detectorists have been jailed for more than five years after being found guilty of hatching a plot to illegally sell Anglo-Saxon coins of “immense historical significance” abroad.

Craig Best, 46, and Roger Pilling, 75, had been convicted of conspiring to sell criminal property worth £766,000 – namely, ninth-century coins believed to have been buried by a Viking and which have never been declared as treasure, or handed to the crown.