Peter Higgs was sacked by British Museum after being named in disappearance of artefacts - BBC/UNPIXS

Senior executives at the British Museum dismissed warnings of thefts from its collection as “wholly unfounded” when a whistleblower tipped them off two years ago, emails seen by The Telegraph show.

Hartwig Fischer, the museum’s director, said there was “no evidence to substantiate the allegations” that stolen objects were being sold on eBay. His deputy Jonathan Williams said a “thorough investigation” had found “no suggestion of any wrongdoing” and confidently stated that the “collection is protected”.

Ittai Gradel, the Danish art dealer who raised the alarm, said Dr Williams had “basically told me to get lost”.

The disclosure will heap further pressure on Dr Williams, seen as a contender to take over the top job from Dr Fischer when he steps down from his post next year. It is also likely to intensify calls for Dr Fischer to go immediately.

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The theft of more than 1,500 objects was finally discovered when Dr Gradel refused to be “brushed off” by the directors and contacted the museum’s chairman, George Osborne , who took personal charge of the matter.

British Museum: email extracts

Last week, the museum announced that a member of staff, now known to be former curator Peter Higgs, had been sacked following the discovery that jewellery dating as far back as 1,500BC had been stolen. Mr Higgs denies wrongdoing, according to his family. The thefts are being investigated by police. No arrests have been made.

Dr Williams was alerted to the thefts by Dr Gradel in February 2021, when the Dane sent him a 1,600-word email detailing the “disturbing discovery” he had made that a Roman cameo offered for sale on eBay, as well as other items, had come from the museum’s collection.

Museum pieces on eBay

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He included a detailed description of detective work he had done to identify the seller, who he identified as Mr Higgs, and said that either Mr Higgs must be the culprit or someone with access to the museum’s vaults was stealing items and impersonating him online.

Dr Williams replied on Mar 1, 2021 saying that the matter would be investigated, but by the end of June that year Dr Gradel had heard nothing, so he sent a follow up email to Dr Williams and sent a copy of his original email to Dr Fischer.

On Jul 12, 2021 Dr Williams wrote back, saying that an investigation had found “the objects concerned are all accounted for”, and that a review of security had concluded “procedures are robust and that the collection is protected”. Later the same month, he confirmed that Dr Gradel’s allegations were “wholly unfounded”.

In October last year Dr Gradel wrote to Sir Paul Ruddock, one of the trustees of the museum, to tell him he had been “tormented” by his belief that the objects had been stolen and that the museum was “sweeping it all under the carpet”.

He said he had been “brushed off” by Dr Williams who had “basically told me to get lost”.

Seven unsolved museum mysteries

Sir Paul passed the email on to Mr Osborne, who responded the next day by emailing Dr Fischer, and demanding “a detailed response to assure me that the matter has been thoroughly investigated, with a timeline”.

Dr Fischer responded by telling Sir Paul: “The case has been thoroughly investigated. There is no evidence to substantiate the allegations. The objects are in the collection.”

Once again, Dr Gradel refused to take no for an answer, and contacted Mr Osborne directly in January this year, setting out the evidence he had gathered.

He told the former chancellor: “I realise, of course, that the evidence I have found is embarrassing and can potentially cause immense damage to the institution: that is not what I want to do, if it can be avoided. But I will absolutely not accept once more to be simply told to get lost and mind my own business.”

Mr Osborne replied that “I have taken your comments very seriously” and that his allegations were being “looked at”.

In his letter to Mr Osborne, Dr Gradel also accused the museum’s managers of treating him with “the most appalling arrogance” when he tried to help them by alerting them to the thefts.

A spokesman for the museum said it would not be adding to its previous statements.

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