Treasure thief sentenced for five more years in jail for failing to pay back over £600,000 of criminal proceeds
A detectorist who stole an estimated £3m worth of Viking treasure has been sentenced to a further five years and three months in prison after failing to pay back over £600,000.
Layton Davies, formerly of Pontypridd, was jailed in 2019 for concealing the finding of the treasure and theft after he sold rare Viking and Anglo-Saxon coins and jewellery along with an accomplice.
Following Davies’ conviction, the CPS Proceeds of Crime Division took him to court so that the Confiscation Order could be issued under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
He was ordered to repay the £603,180 he made from selling the stolen treasures, which experts believe provided fresh information on previously unknown alliances between the ancient kings of Mercia and Wessex.
Debbie Price, Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor of the CPS Proceeds of Crime Division, said: “Greed led Layton Davies to ignore his duty to report the found treasure and instead sell it for his own benefit.
“An experienced detectorist, Davies would have known he was entitled to half of the proceeds of legal sale of the treasure, instead choosing the deprive the landowner and public by stealing this exceptional and significant treasure.
“This case shows that the CPS takes our duty to ensure crime doesn’t pay seriously, Davies has failed to pay so we have taken him back to court and his additional default sentence means he now faces a further five years in prison.”
In the last five years, 2018 to 2023, over £480 million has been recovered from CPS obtained Confiscation Orders, ensuring that thousands of convicted criminals cannot profit from their offending. £105m of that amount has been returned to victims of crime, by way of compensation.
Notes to editors
- Layton Davies (DOB: 18/06/1968) was found guilty of theft, conspiracy to conceal criminal property and conspiracy to convert criminal property in November 2019. He was convicted alongside co-defendant George Powell (DOB: 22/01/1981) who was also issued with a Confiscation Order of over £600,000
- Layton Davies has been sentenced to a further five years and three months (1,939 days) in prison after a judge activated his default sentence.
- Debbie Price is the Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS Proceeds of Crime Division, which is part of the CPS Serious Economic Organised and International Directorate (SEOCID)
- Where a defendant refuses to pay their Confiscation Order in a timely way, CPS Proceeds of Crime Division can invite the court to impose an additional default sentence on them of up to 14 years' imprisonment. The full debt continues to be in force until it is paid, and interest is charged against it at the civil judgement debt rate, currently 8%
- The amount outstanding to be paid by Layton Davies is £600,006, the current interest amount is £70,375, the total outstanding amount for confiscation is therefore £670,381.