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Bosses at the British Museum were last night accused of showing a 'lack of reaction' when they were warned about stolen treasures being sold online.
The Mail on Sunday has learned that Dr Ittai Gradel, an expert in Roman antiquities, raised the alarm after spotting artefacts for sale that had appeared in a museum catalogue almost a century ago.
Speaking yesterday, the Danish academic said: 'I alerted the British Museum on 28 February 2021. I was - shall we say - not pleased with the reaction or lack of reaction that I had from them.'
He suggested that the culprit may have also taken 'unregistered items' from the museum collection, but 'became so sloppy that they put on eBay two items that had been published in the British Museum catalogue from 1926.
'I recognised them.'
The British Museum worker sacked over missing priceless treasures was today named as Peter John Higgs, 56,
His remarks follow last month's sacking of Peter John Higgs, a curator who worked at the museum for over 30 years, after jewellery, gems and precious metals spanning more 3,000 years vanished from the archives.
It subsequently emerged that a number of the items had previously appeared on eBay at rock bottom prices.
They include an item of Roman jewellery made from onyx which was advertised on the site in 2016 with a price tag of £40. Experts believe the piece, which did not attract any bids, is actually worth between £25,000 and £50,000.
Police are investigating, although Mr Higgs's family insist he is innocent and no arrests have been made.
Former Arts Minister David Mellor, a Mail on Sunday critic, last night called for an independent review and said it was 'disgraceful' that the museum doesn't have a register of everything in its collection.
He said: 'It's perfectly obvious that arrangements at the British Museum were not good enough to guarantee the safety of at least part of their collection.
Mr Higgs had worked there for 35 years until earlier this year. His family insist he is innocent
There have not been any arrests following the thefts from The British Museum despite a member of staff getting the sack
'They did not have arrangements whereby everything was properly noted - and they were asking for trouble, and they got it.'
Mr Mellor added: 'What bothers me is that during this whole period there was nobody looking to protect the collection - nobody who was prepared to take the necessary action to safeguard it.
'This cannot be swept under the carpet. It's perfectly obvious that nobody tried to deal with this matter and that inconvenient words from the whistleblower were simply ignored.'
Last night, Dr Gradel - who has held posts at a number of British universities - said: 'I have done this for the sake of the museum.
'In my late teens I spent many, many happy hours there going through the entire museum. I have loved the place ever since.
Higgs' family insist he will be cleared
Bosses at the British Museum were last night accused of showing a 'lack of reaction' when they were warned about stolen treasures being sold online
'My love for the museum does not mean I have great affection necessarily for all the employees there or the present management.'
A spokesperson for the British Museum said last night that 'no other person is currently under investigation by the Museum'.
But they said they were unable to state exactly when the director or the chair of trustees had been informed that items had gone missing because of the ongoing police investigation.
They also said they could not provide a list of which items were missing for the same reason.
