{"id":11256,"date":"2015-10-09T18:01:18","date_gmt":"2015-10-09T17:01:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ihbconline.co.uk\/newsachive\/?p=11256"},"modified":"2015-10-09T18:49:38","modified_gmt":"2015-10-09T17:49:38","slug":"ihbc-welcomes-recognition-of-heritage-crime-in-new-sentencing-council-theft-guidelines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=11256","title":{"rendered":"IHBC welcomes recognition of \u2018Heritage Crime\u2019 in new Sentencing Council \u2018theft guidelines\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The IHBC has welcomed new guidance that has been issued by the <\/u>Sentencing Council which now officially clarifies and recognises \u2018heritage crime\u2019, and which can serve as an invaluable complement to the IHBC\u2019s own suite of management guidance for authorities and officers, including the institute\u2019s own authoritative database on prosecutions.<\/u>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Historic England writes:<\/u>
\nThe Sentencing Council has announced new theft guidelines which includes for the first time, theft of historic objects or the loss of the nation’s heritage. Historic England welcomes this as a significant milestone in its work to protect England’s heritage and combat heritage crime.<\/p>\n

Plaques stolen from war memorials, organised gangs stripping church roofs of lead, \u2018nighthawks\u2019 stealing historic objects from the ground and unlawful salvage from historic shipwrecks are all heritage crimes, which for the first time will be recognised in the sentencing process. This follows new guidelines announced today (Tuesday, 6 October 2015) by the Sentencing Council which adds weight to thefts that cause damage to \u2018heritage assets.\u2019<\/p>\n

The recognition of the importance of heritage in the consideration of theft offences is a huge endorsement for Historic England\u2019s work over the past five years to combat and prevent heritage crime. The change to the guidelines will come into force in all courts in England and Wales in February 2016.<\/p>\n

Welcoming new sentencing guidelines for heritage crimes involving theft, Mark Harrison, National Policing and Crime Adviser for Historic England said: \u2018The value of England\u2019s heritage can\u2019t be judged in pounds and pence. The impact of theft on our historic sites and buildings has far-reaching consequences over and above the financial cost of what has been stolen.<\/p>\n

Mark Harrison added: \u2018Heritage crime comes in many forms. When thieves steal metal from heritage assets, such as listed churches, artefacts from the ground or historic stonework from an ancient castle, they are stealing from all of us and damaging something which is often irreplaceable.\u2019<\/p>\n

The new guidelines will help the courts identify all the relevant factors to include in their sentencing decisions in relation to heritage crime including \u2018going equipped to steal,\u2019 \u2018the act of theft\u2019 and \u2018handling stolen goods\u2019. It will also aid Historic England\u2019s work with the Police and Crown Prosecution Service in bringing theft cases to court where it involves loss and damage to a significant \u2018heritage asset\u2019.<\/p>\n

Research published in 2012 by English Heritage, (now known as Historic England) highlighted that in 2011, over 200 crimes were committed against listed buildings across England every day, affecting over 70,000 listed buildings and three in every eight churches. According to Ecclesiastical Insurance Group\u2019s (EIG) latest data, a total of more than 6700 churches and 42 commercial heritage properties, such as museums and country houses, have fallen victim to metal thieves in the last five years, costing nearly \u00a312.5 million (April 2014)<\/p>\n

IHBC\u2019s suite of related guidance, including its Prosecutions Database<\/a><\/p>\n

Download the new sentencing guidelines<\/a> for theft offences from the Sentencing Council
\n<\/u><\/p>\n

IHBC NewsBlogs on heritage crime<\/a><\/p>\n

Historic England news<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The IHBC has welcomed new guidance that has been issued by the Sentencing Council which now officially clarifies and recognises \u2018heritage crime\u2019, and which can serve as an invaluable complement to the IHBC\u2019s own suite of management guidance for authorities … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ihbc-newsblog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11256"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11263,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11256\/revisions\/11263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}