Operation Icarus

[2] According to ArtWatch UK—an organisation which campaigns for the protection of works of art and architecture—the investigation has uncovered "the systematic plundering of churches in England and Wales [that] has gone largely unnoticed for up to ten years.

[14] DI Barnes said that art dealers purchasing stolen artefacts "were not doing enough to ensure that objects were on the market legitimately.... Our general consensus is that their records are woefully inadequate.

"[3] Police raids in London, Wales and Kent led to the recovery of around 60 stolen artefacts including stonework, tombstone lids, friezes, statues, paintings, brasses, stained glass panels and 17th-century Bibles.

"[17] The Herefordshire Historic Churches Trust has expressed concerns that some artefacts stolen to order may have already left the country and that while "ownership reverts to the rightful owner in Britain, this is not always the case overseas where a collector who may have bought in good faith can take title.

"[18] In January 2012 a brass eagle lectern stolen from Holy Cross Church, Ashton Keynes, Wiltshire, was found on sale at an antiques fair in Romania.

[23] In May 2016, Christopher Cooper, an unemployed antique dealer from Wales, was convicted at Hereford Crown Court of fraud, theft and dealing in tainted cultural objects.

[25] Cooper had carried out the theft of the Torbryan rood screen in 2013, and had "travelled the country taking objects ranging from crucifixes to Anglo-Saxon carvings – and even a stone coffin."