‘Appalling arrogance’: British Museum had dismissed whistleblower’s allegations of stolen items

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

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 1500BC had been stolen. Higgs denies wrongdoing, according to his family. The thefts are being investigated by police. No arrests have been made.

Ruddock passed the email on to 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”.

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