Plot To Steal £57m Artefacts Uncovered Gang Arrested

A gang of fourteen struck twice; at Durham's Oriental Museum again, and at Cambridge University's Fitzwilliam Museum.

On 5 April 2012 criminals smashed a hole in the wall of the Oriental Museum and stole a £2m jade bowl and a figurine worth £175,000.

The items were left at a previously agreed "deposition site" on wasteland near the Meadowfield Industrial Estate.

The gang failed to recover the artefacts after numerous attempts to find them on the site.

The fourteen men have been convicted of conspiracy to steal high value artefacts worth up to £57m from museums across England.

The men, aged between twenty-six and sixty-eight were part of an international organised crime gang who committed a series of offences spanning four months.

In total the group plotted to steal 24 artefacts, with as many as 18 never recovered.

Six members of the same family were involved in the conspiracy, including Richard Sheridan, the former spokesman for travellers fighting eviction from Dale Farm in Essex.

The 47-year-old, from Cottenham, Cambridgeshire was convicted along with his father John "Cash" O'Brien, 68, of Wolverhampton, Daniel "Turkey" O'Brien, 45, John "Kerry" O'Brien, 26, Michael Hegarty, 43 - all from Cottenham - and Richard "Kerry" O'Brien, 31, from Dale Farm in Billericay.

Along with eight other men they were convicted of conspiracy to steal rhino horns, items manufactured from rhino horn and Chinese porcelain.

The gang initially targeted rhino horns as they can be worth three times the price of gold at €60,000 (£46,850) a kilo.

They then recognised the value in oriental artefacts at a time when the Chinese economy was booming.

The "fence", or middle man, was 56-year-old property developer Donald Chi Chong Wong, who lived in Clapham Common, London, and was involved in smuggling to China.

In January 2012 a man hired by the gang attempted to steal a Ming dynasty sculpture from the Oriental Museum in Durham.

The offender stuffed the artefact into a rucksack and sprinted off before being apprehended by staff.

A month later four men working for the conspirators attempted to steal a rhino horn from the Castle Museum in Norwich.

It was described in court as a "fiasco" after the offenders dropped the rhino head because it was too heavy.

In March 2012 three raiders made off with a bamboo cup worth less than £1,000 after jumping over the counter during a viewing day at Gorringes Auction House in Lewes, East Sussex.

They had been ordered to steal a rhino horn libation cup worth around £60,000.

Members of the public intervened and the three were arrested nearby.  Police eventually located them eight days later and in court the prosecutor described the theft as a "steal it, can't find it" failure.