Archaeology dig disrupted as police launch own mystery investigation into 'financial irregularities'
One of the excavation sites (file pic)
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An archaeological dig has been hit with claims of financial irregularities, with more than £100,000 allegedly missing from its accounts.
A former treasurer at Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project (Sharp) has been charged.
Norfolk Police launched an investigation after new members of its committee first began to suspect "serious financial irregularities" towards the end of last summer's dig.
The project, which started in 1996, involves excavations each summer in the village, near Hunstanton. and is funded by charging for courses, to train people while they are taking part in digs, as well as through fundraising and donations from the public.
One of the excavation sites (file pic)
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A spokesperson from the project said: "In the final week of the 2023 season, the newly elected committee began to suspect there were serious financial irregularities in the Sharp accounts and finances over several years.
"Since the season, together with the police, the new Sharp committee and trustees have been working hard to determine the nature and cause of these irregularities. This revealed a substantial amount of Sharp's money unaccounted for.
"The Sharp trustees and committee would like to take this opportunity to apologise to the membership that this has occurred. In light of these events, we started this year with little in the way of contingency funds and although we are hopeful that we will break even, we are still being hampered by increased hire costs.
"We are however confident with the new committee and trustees taking the reins, and new procedures in place, that Sharp will survive this incident and go forward into the future."
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The dig is taking place near the village of Sedgeford
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A spokesman for Norfolk police said: "Pamela Bent, 65, of James Close, King’s Lynn has been charged with one count of fraud by abuse of position between July 3, 2019 and August 3, 2023, and one count of false accounting during the same period.
"Both charges relate to a charity. She has been bailed to appear at King’s Lynn Magistrates Court on July 18, 2024."
Since the project launched in 1996, the dig has focused on an Anglo-Saxon settlement on a hill across the valley from the Norfolk village.
The current dig is analysing evidence of Anglo-Saxon malting buildings from around 379. New malting kilns were identified last season, and this year researchers are hoping to reveal even more about this internationally significant site.
Over the last decades, the remains of around 400 ancient villagers buried in the so-called Boneyard Field.
Archaeologists have also found a hoard of coins hidden in a cow horn and the body of a murder victim who had been cremated in an oven.