Wiltshire pair due in Court for illegal metal detecting
Two individuals were arrested by Police
Two Wiltshire men have been summoned to court for illegal metal detecting and damaging ancient monuments.
Thomas Cole, 25, of Castle Road in Salisbury, and Dean Martin Bunce, 39, of Moorlands, Chippenham have been summoned to appear before Swindon Magistrates Court on 21 December 2022.
The pair were arrested on 21 July on suspicion of metal detecting on the protected scheduled monument of Cunetio, the ancient Roman town near to Mildenhall, in contravention of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
Bunce has been summoned that without lawful excuse he destroyed or damaged a protected monument, namely Roman Town Cunetio, knowing that it was a protected monument and intending to destroy or damage the monument or being reckless as to whether the monument would be destroyed or damaged, contrary to section 28 of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
Cole has been summoned that he used a metal detector within the scheduled area of the boundary of the Roman Town Cunetio without the written consent of the Commission, Contrary to section 42(1) of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
The Cunetio Hoard, also called the Mildenhall Hoard, is the biggest collection of Roman coins discovered in Britain. It was unearthed in 1978 at the site of the Roman town of Cunetio.
Wessex Archaeology, based at Old Sarum, have done extensive work at the historically important Cunetio Hoard site.