By james art 
Durham PoliceTwo metal detectorists who planned to ‘erase history’ by illegally selling Anglo-Saxon coins have had appeals to have their prison sentences reduced.
Roger Pilling, 76, and Craig Best, 48, were convicted of conspiring to sell 44 ninth-century coins worth £766,000 and jailed for five years and two months at Durham Crown Court in May 2023.
On Wednesday, the pair asked the Court of Appeal to reduce their sentences, with Best’s lawyers telling judges the sentence was “manifestly excessive”.
But three judges dismissed the appeal, with Mr Justice Murray saying the plan would “significantly dilute the nation’s shared history” if successful.
The men tried to sell the coins to an undercover police officer who they believed was a buyer from the US.
Best, the former Bishop of Auckland, County Durham, was arrested with three coins in a Durham hotel in May 2019 in a police operation.
Pilling was arrested at his home in Loveclough, Lancashire, with a further 41 coins seized.
The two men were later convicted of conspiracy to convert criminal property and a separate charge of possession of criminal property.
Durham PoliceAt the 2023 trial, Pilling was said to have acquired the collection on the black market.
The coins, which have never been declared treasure, are believed to have been made between 874 and 879 AD.
They are believed to have been buried by a Viking and include two extremely rare double-headed coins.
The sentencing judge found the 44 coins were part of a larger, undeclared find, known as the Herefordshire or Leominster hoard, discovered in 2015 and worth millions of pounds but also undeclared.
“I came up with a plan”
Chris Morrison, representing Best in the appeal, said his client had been “requested” by Pilling to sell the items and had become the “de facto agent of the sale”.
He said: “I recognize straight away that this is a serious offense and it is clear that the court regards it as such.
“But I think that if the matter is taken into account, the sentence in respect of my client may be too high.”
Pilling, who is representing himself, made written submissions to the court but did not attend the hearing.
The court heard Pilling claimed that “adequate consideration of the mitigating circumstances, his age, medical condition and being dependent on his wife” was not taken into account when he was sentenced.
Dismissing the appeal bids, Mr Justice Murray, sitting with Lord Justice William Davies and Justice Sean Smith KC, said the pair had “devised a plan to sell the coins” to buyers in the US because they “knew the coins could not be sold safely in the UK to a legitimate dealer’.
The judge said the three items Best and Pilling planned to sell included “one coin that rewrites the history of King Alfred and the little-known King of Mercia”.