Peter Higgs , who was sacked from the British Museum, was put in charge of the Elgin Marbles

The curator sacked over thefts from the British Museum was promoted to a job that put him in charge of the Elgin Marbles after a whistleblower had raised the alarm.

Peter Higgs was made acting keeper of Greek collections after the museum received a tip-off that items had turned up for sale on eBay.

He remained in the job despite being implicated in the sale of missing items. Mr Higgs denies wrongdoing.

The Telegraph has also learnt that when the museum checked a storeroom where 942 uncatalogued items were kept, all but seven of them were missing.

Ittai Gradel, the Danish antiquities dealer who uncovered the thefts, said Hartwig Fischer, the museum’s director, and Jonathan Williams, his deputy, should be sacked immediately “for the sake of this great institution”.

Director speaks out

In his first public comments about the growing scandal, Dr Fischer hit back at Dr Gradel’s comments, claiming that he had not given the museum the whole picture when he raised the alarm in 2021.

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He said that if “the individual who raised concerns” had reported that he had about 60 items in his possession, the original investigation might have had a different outcome.

The fact that Mr Higgs remained in charge of the Elgin Marbles after he had been implicated in the sale of missing items will only intensify the pressure from Greece to return the treasures, which Athens maintains were stolen from the Parthenon by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century.

Even before the latest disclosure, Despoina Koutsoumba, the director of the Association of Greek Archaeologists, said the museum could no longer claim Greek treasures are “more protected” in London.

News of the thefts has made headlines around the world and Dr Gradel fears the reputation of the museum is being dragged down further by the “slow torture” of revelations about the bungled internal investigation into the thefts.

Dr Gradel revealed he had bought about 70 items on eBay, starting in 2014, from an account he now believes to have belonged to Mr Higgs or someone purporting to be him. The cheapest item cost just £15, while others that cost Dr Gradel a few hundred pounds were sold on by him for thousands.

He has given the museum and police, who are investigating the thefts, details of the buyers who bought 10 items from him. He has returned the rest to the museum.

He also believes another 150 items he bought from a third party originated from the museum, although he cannot be sure because they do not appear in the museum’s catalogue. He will also return those items to the museum.

One of the items he bought from the eBay seller was a ring that was advertised as a copy of an ancient Egyptian treasure from the time of Cleopatra.

He bought it for £150 but, when it arrived, realised it was genuine and was more than 2,000 years old.

He contacted the seller and offered to send it back, as it had been hugely undervalued, but instead the seller settled for an extra payment of £500.

Mr Higgs, 56, who worked at the museum for 30 years, was curator of Greek collections, Greek sculpture and the Hellenistic period. The museum was first alerted to the thefts in 2020 when Dr Gradel asked a friend to make contact with senior staff. Mr Higgs was not named in the correspondence.

Promotion

In January 2021, Mr Higgs was promoted to acting keeper of Greek collections.

The following month, Dr Gradel contacted Dr Williams directly and sent him a dossier which showed items from the museum being sold on eBay by a seller with a bank account in the name of Peter Higgs.

Emails seen by The Telegraph show that Mr Williams insisted that a “thorough investigation” had found “no suggestion of any wrongdoing” and dismissed Dr Gradel’s concerns.

Dr Fischer said: “When allegations were brought to us in 2021 we took them incredibly seriously, and immediately set up an investigation.

“Concerns were only raised about a small number of items, and our investigation concluded that those items were all accounted for.

“We now have reason to believe that the individual who raised concerns had many more items in his possession, and it’s frustrating that that was not revealed to us as it would have aided our investigations.

“In 2022 we embarked on a full audit – which revealed a bigger problem. I reported my concerns to the Trustees, and together we agreed to call in the police. We also then began the disciplinary process that resulted in a member of staff being dismissed.

“I am clear that at every step my priority has been the care of the incredible British Museum collection, and that continues today – with our commitment to learning lessons from the independent review, our determination to help the police with their criminal investigation, and our focus on the recovery programme.”

Dr Gradel claims the museum failed to carry out basic checks, such as contacting a dealer who had handled some of the missing items.

It was only when Dr Gradel contacted George Osborne, the museum’s chairman, in January this year that a more thorough investigation was launched, which led to the sacking of Mr Higgs in July.

British Museum: email extracts

More than 1,500 items, comprising gold jewellery, semi-precious stones and glass, are now known to have gone missing, with other items damaged. Some were 3,500 years old.

Dr Gradel said he had been told that a large part of the missing haul consisted of uncatalogued items that mainly came from a bequest made by the family of an 18th century collector. In all, 942 items were known to be in storage, though they had not been individually catalogued.

“When the staff went to open the drawer, only seven items remained”, said Dr Gradel.

Last month, Dr Fischer said that he would step down from his post next year.

Police are investigating the thefts. No arrests have been made.

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