Named: Curator sacked after British Museum treasures vanished

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A British museum antiquities expert sacked after the disappearance of gold jewellery and semi-precious stones has had his name “dragged through the mud”, his family has said.

Peter Higgs, 56, a curator of 30 years and head of the department of Greece and Rome, was dismissed last month after it was discovered that artefacts thought to be worth tens of millions of pounds had vanished from the vaults.

It is believed to have been the largest breach of security in a decade at the central London institution and tourist attraction.

Museum bosses said on Wednesday that they were taking legal action and had launched an independent review of security, but did not identify the employee concerned. The Metropolitan Police are investigating but say no arrests have been made.

The missing items include gold jewellery, semi-precious stones, and glass dating from the 15th century BC to the 19th century AD.

Mr Higgs was one of the museum’s “Monuments Men”, a team that tracks down looted artefacts and returns them to their home countries or puts them on display in London.

His son, Greg, told The Times that his father maintained his innocence and that the dismissal had come as a shock, saying: “He’s not done anything. He’s not happy about it at all.

“He’s lost his job and his reputation and I don’t think it was fair. It couldn’t have been [him]. I don’t think there is even anything missing as far as I’m aware.”

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The Greek collection curator had kept the investigation secret from his family, his son revealed.

Greg was away when he learnt that his father had been sacked. “It was a massive shock because my dad had had the job for 35 years, and then coming home from a holiday to see everyone so devastated – it was horrific,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

“He’d loved his job for so long, he was amazing at it; he published books, and just recently he was doing exhibitions for them in other countries.”

He added: “He hasn’t been doing great since it happened. It’s been really sad to watch him be so upset all the time about it. I had never seen him cry before this. He’s devastated, he really is.”

The museum, which houses items from around the world, has not confirmed which of its 8 million artefacts have gone missing, but the number could be in the thousands.

Items had reportedly been disappearing for several years, although it is understood that they were stored items rather than those on display.

According to The Telegraph, Mr Higgs was identified to museum bosses three years ago after Roman jewellery went up for sale on eBay.

Greg added: “At this point he doesn’t even really care what people think of him, he just wants a chance to live a normal life. It gets to that point, sometimes, where even if you’re innocent you’d just rather not have everyone speak to you all the time about it, at least from the museum. He’s lost all faith in the museum.”

The 21-year-old lifeguard said he did not go to university because he had seen his father struggle with money his whole life.

“It wasn’t super-easy before, because you’d think world experts would get paid a bit more than they do, but a PhD doesn’t mean everything. That’s why I didn’t go to uni – because I saw him struggling with money his whole life,” he told The Telegraph.

He added: “The most I can say is that, from our perspective, I don’t think any of this has been very fair. His name has been completely dragged through the mud and demonised.”

At the former curator’s home in Hastings, East Sussex, a grey 54-plate Nissan Micra in the drive and a dog barking inside were the only signs of life on Wednesday. Curtains in the front room were drawn, but a light could be seen in an upstairs bedroom.

Mr Higgs has not been seen there for a few days, neighbours said, and there was no answer at the front door.

One local resident, who didn’t want to be named, said police were at the house on Wednesday morning.

“I saw two or three heavy-set uniformed police here yesterday morning,” the neighbour said. “I could see they had ‘Police’ on the back of their flak jackets, but I had no idea what they were doing here.”

Museum director Hartwig Fischer apologised on Wednesday for the missing artefacts, saying that museum staff were “determined to put this right” and that they were ready to “throw our efforts into the recovery of objects”.

Chair of the museum George Osborne said the trustees were extremely concerned, adding that they had “used all the disciplinary powers available to us to deal with the individual we believe to be responsible”.

The former chancellor said: “Our priority is now threefold: first, to recover the stolen items; second, to find out what, if anything, could have been done to stop this; and third, to do whatever it takes, with investment in security and collection records, to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

“This incident only reinforces the case for the reimagination of the museum we have embarked upon. It’s a sad day for all who love our British Museum, but we’re determined to right the wrongs and use the experience to build a stronger museum.”