Thief stole greater than 300 works from British museum in plain sight – earlier than being let off with suspended sentence

A prolific art thief stole more than 300 works from the British Museum in plain sight before finally being caught. 

Nigel Peverett, a former employee, snatched prints from the museum’s study rooms over a number of years, up until the early 1990s.

He would then use razor blades to scratch off any identification details linking the stolen works back to the museum in London and subsequently sell them through art dealers.

Peverett’s secret operation was only uncovered in 1992 after he was caught with 35 prints, valued at £5,000, stuffed among his belongings as he tried to leave the museum. 

Police discovered the extent of his thievery at his cottage in Kent, where 169 prints valued at nearly £30,000 were stacked up. 

The art thief admitted to stealing a further 150 pieces, which he said he had already sold to a friend, and was given a suspended sentence. 

Peverett’s misdoings were accidentally unearthed from the British Museum’s archives by historian Barnaby Phillips, who was researching a book on stolen African treasure. 

Officials raised concerns about the building’s ‘inadequate’ security after the discovery of the thefts, minutes of a trustee meeting showed. 

Nigel Peverett, a former employee, snatched prints from the British Museum’s (pictured) study rooms over a number of years, up until the early 1990s

Peverett’s misdoings were accidentally unearthed from the British Museum’s archives by historian Barnaby Phillips (pictured) who was researching a book on stolen African treasure

This led to the introduction of CCTV and mandatory bag searches in the museum. 

The trustees’ minutes read: ‘It was clear that Peverett’s thefts had been on a large scale and had taken place over a considerable period of time, and there was some concern that many more than the 300 or so prints to the theft of which he had confessed have been stolen.’ 

They added he was eventually handed a suspended sentence. 

Peverett died in 2023 and his family told Mr Phillips that he was ‘totally irresponsible and hopeless with money’. 

Mr Phillips told The Telegraph that the British Museum hoped Peverett’s ‘extraordinary’ case would remain tucked away in its archives. 

He added that he found a Kent antique dealer connected to Peverett, who told him of the art thief’s boasting about ‘going into the British Museum with one bag and coming out with four’, adding that ‘the place was a shambles’. 

Peverett had fenced the works to art dealers, including one on London’s famous Portobello Road, who bought them in good faith. 

Peverett’s thievery was later mirrored in a separate robbery in 2023, which was only uncovered after ancient artefacts dating back to 1500 BC started popping up for sale online.

The British Museum’s former curator of Mediterranean culture Peter John Higgs (pictured) was sacked over allegations, which he denies, that he stole ancient artefacts 

A Danish antiques dealer, Ittai Gradel, spotted in 2020 an eBay account he bought from for nearly two years had an inventory of small artefacts. 

An ancient gemstone known as the Priapus cameo caught his eye after he had seen it exhibited at the British Museum. 

The grey and white piece was being listed for £40, despite being worth an estimated £15,000.

He told the BBC: ‘There was no doubt it was the same object and I was confused.’ 

Mr Gradel informed the British Museum, leading to the discovery of nearly 2,000 missing or damaged items, many of which had been snaffled from storerooms and sold on eBay, the museum said. 

Hundreds of artefacts have since been recovered. 

The thefts were linked back to the museum’s then-curator of Mediterranean culture Peter John Higgs, who was subsequently sacked. 

The museum has since filed a lawsuit against Peter Higgs, who has denied all allegations and is defending himself. 

A spokesperson for the British Museum said: ‘These events occurred decades ago and the individual was caught and prosecuted at the time.

‘Thefts will unfortunately always be a risk for every museum and for this reason we take safeguarding the collection incredibly seriously. 

‘Alongside security measures, making the collection more widely known is another way we feel makes it safer and in 2023 we committed to have it fully digitised within five years.’