Peter John Higgs Wiki – Peter John Higgs Biography

The British Museum worker sacked after being accused of stealing priceless treasures revealed himself today as a “world expert” on ancient Greece who had worked there for more than three decades. Peter John Higgs, 56, was fired this summer for jewelry, gems and precious metals spanning more than three millennia of history and missing from museum vaults for several years.

Mr Higgs, who has not been arrested by police, was fired after the items were found to be “missing, stolen or damaged”. Today it was also claimed that he was appointed to the chiefs three years ago, after items such as jewelry from the revered Townley collection of Greco-Roman artifacts allegedly went up for sale on eBay, but he kept his job.

Higgs has been described as one of Britain’s leading experts on ancient Greek and Mediterranean artefacts. As well as being the curator of the museum’s Greek collections, he was also part of the British Museum’s so-called ‘Monuments Men’ team, who tracked down looted artifacts and returned them to their countries of origin or put them on display in London.

His family insists that he is innocent and that they will clear his name. Today his daughter Greg said: ‘He hasn’t done anything. He is not happy about it at all. He has lost his job and his reputation and I don’t think he was fair. It couldn’t have been [him]. I don’t think anything is missing that I know of.

The British Museum declined to comment when reached out by MailOnline. Higgs’ son Greg, a lifeguard, told The Times: “He worked there for 35 years without incident.” They trusted him for so many things. And then, yeah, I don’t know what changed. He’s devastated by it, because it’s his life’s work, basically. I have never met someone so passionate about what he did. I mean, he’s a world expert in his field.

And he added: ‘His name of his has been completely dragged through the mud and demonized. He hasn’t been very well since it happened. It’s been really sad to see him be so upset all the time about it. He had never seen him cry before this. He’s devastated, he really is. Greg told The Telegraph his father had been sacked in July and had been under investigation for “a while”. He said: ‘He is currently with the family for some support because it has been very difficult, losing half of our income all of a sudden.

Peter John Higgs Age

The age of Peter John Higgs is 56 year.

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Charges on Peter John Higgs

“At this point, he doesn’t even care what people think of him, he just wants the chance to live a normal life.” “Sometimes it gets to that point where, even if you’re innocent, you’d rather no one talk to you all the time about it, at least from the museum. He has lost all faith in the museum.

“The only thing he said was that he was really hurt by the fact that even if his colleagues could have supported him, they probably wouldn’t be allowed to, that’s what he told me.” He probably doesn’t want to get his colleagues in trouble. He has a lot of great friends there. He was always very involved, he went to the Christmas parties every year.

He added: ‘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 college, because I saw him struggling with money his whole life. Mr Higgs, who lives in a £215,000 three-bedroom house in Hastings, also worked as a private tutor for £19 an hour until a month ago.

Born and raised in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, he studied archeology at Liverpool University before joining the British Museum. He is a well-known face there, and a regular in the press when he presents new major exhibits. Last year he helped return a 2,000-year-old statue to Libya after it was detained at Heathrow. He said at the time: ‘They took me to a warehouse and among the boxes of wine was a heavy wooden box.

He opened up and said: ‘Instantly, I recognized it as a sculpture from ancient Libya. It was a beautiful sculpture, very well preserved and made of very good quality marble.’ He also spoke to The Times in 2002 when an undercover reporter revealed that artifacts had gone missing. He said he was sure they would turn up again, adding that “it’s chaos down here” and that some items hadn’t been cataloged for a century.

An expert had seen the pieces on the online auction house and reported the seller to the world famous museum. But despite the notice in 2020, no action was taken until this year when the longest-serving staff member was laid off. They were traced through a piece of Roman jewelry on eBay to a museum department, The Telegraph reports.

The police are investigating objects dating from between 1500 B.C. C. and the XIX century d. C. and that they have disappeared. A source said the museum “may not be interested to know” because the thefts would be “hugely embarrassing” for them. The museum and Met Police have not said what was stolen. Recent high-profile thefts include a £750,000 Cartier diamond ring that has been missing since 2011.

Some experts fear that the stolen items, including precious stones, glass and metal from the 15th century B.C. C., either in the hands of private collectors or even melted down by gangs for “quick money”. The incident has echoes of the French-language Netflix series Lupine, which follows a man inspired by the adventures of master thief Arsène Lupin, a character created by novelist Maurice Leblanc in the early 20th century.

Suspicion has centered on a staff member, who has since been fired, but the worker is not in custody or being questioned, MailOnline can reveal. A source told The Telegraph there was no suggestion that the thefts were ideologically or politically motivated to repatriate artifacts that critics of the British Museum claim were stolen by the British Empire.

A police spokesman said: ‘We have been working together with the British Museum. There is currently an ongoing investigation, no arrests and investigations are continuing.” Christopher Marinello, attorney and founder of Art Recovery International, said: “From a historical perspective, these artifacts are priceless.”

But Marinello added that they could have been gone a long time ago. He told the Daily Telegraph: ‘That is the great shame of these criminals, they do not think of this invaluable quality. They think fast money. ‘They will tend to melt down the gold as fast as possible and go back to cutting the gems. Check out the Henry Moore statue that was cast for raw metal value.

‘The thought of art does not exist, criminals are not sophisticated in this sense. That is the great tragedy of these incidents. Police and the British Museum have not released any photographs or descriptions of the missing items. It is not known how many artifacts were taken, but they are believed to include items dating as far back as 1500 BC. C. until the 19th century.

Most of the items were small pieces, including gold jewelry and semi-precious stones. The Daily Telegraph reports that the Metropolitan Police’s Economic Crime Command is in charge of the criminal investigation. One source suggested few details have been released because “they may have some idea of their whereabouts and believe they could be recovered.”

George Osborne, president of London’s museum, one of the world’s largest, said the robbery was a sad day for all who loved the institution. Announcing an independent security review, museum bosses vowed to recover the irreplaceable items “no matter how long it takes.” None of the pieces had recently been on public display because they were kept primarily for research purposes, and many were in storage.

It was reported last night that the items were believed to have been taken over a “long period of time”. Some of the elements date from the 15th century BC. (1500 BC to 1401 BC), the period during which Egypt conquered Nubia and the Levant and the Battle of the Ten Kings is said to have taken place in Punjab.

The museum’s former trustee, Sir Nigel Boardman, promised that while the recovery process will be a “painful job”, it will become an “absolute priority”. He said: “The British Museum has been the victim of theft and we are absolutely determined to use our review to get to the bottom of what happened and ensure lessons are learned. We are working together with the Metropolitan Police in the interest of criminal justice to support any investigation.

“In addition, the recovery program will work to ensure that stolen items are returned to the museum. It will be painstaking work, involving internal and external experts, but it is a top priority, no matter how long it takes, and we are grateful for the help we have already received.” Sir Nigel and Lucy D’Orsi, Chief Constable of the British Transport Police, will lead the independent review of the museum.

They will provide recommendations on future security arrangements and will also initiate and support a vigorous operation to recover the items. Mr Osborne said: ‘The trustees of the British Museum were extremely concerned when we learned earlier this year that items from the collection had been stolen.

‘We called in the police, imposed emergency measures to increase security, set up an independent review into what happened and lessons to learn, and used all the disciplinary powers available to us to deal with the individual we believe to be responsible. ‘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.’

He added: ‘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.’ Museum director Hartwig Fischer said: ‘This is a highly unusual incident. We take the safeguarding of all the items in our care extremely seriously.

‘The museum apologises for what has happened, but we have now brought an end to this – and we are determined to put things right. We have already tightened our security arrangements and we are working alongside outside experts to complete a definitive account of what is missing, damaged and stolen. ‘This will allow us to throw our efforts into the recovery of objects.’ The Met Police said last night that no arrests had been made.Read More…..