HMS Hermes items allegedly taken from ship
- On 31/01/2017
- In Illegal Recoveries
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By Sarah Ann Harris - Huffington Post
Two men have been charged in connection with the alleged removal of items from a sunken Royal Navy warship in the English Channel.
John Blight and Nigel Ingram are accused of failing to declare items to the Receiver of Wreck from HMS Hermes, a protected cruiser built in the late 19th century and converted into an aircraft ferry and depot ship ready for the outbreak of the First World War, the Press Association reported.
It was sunk by a German submarine in the Dover Strait in October 1914 with the loss of 44 lives.
A Kent Police spokesman said: “Officers from Kent Police’s rural task force launched an investigation in August 2015 after being informed that a number of historical artefacts had been reported missing from the wreck.”
Blight, 57, of Winchelsea, East Sussex, has been charged with three counts of dishonestly failing to disclose items of wreck to the Receiver of Wreck with intent to make a gain. Ingram, 56, of Teynham, Kent, has been charged with the same three counts in addition to being in possession of £16,000 worth of criminal property.
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