A man has denied burglary after ‘irreplaceable’ gold jewellery was stolen from a museum in Cardiff.
Several Bronze Age items were allegedly stolen from a display case at St Fagans National Museum of History at around 12.30am on October 6.
Gavin Burnett, 43, appeared at Northampton Crown Court via video-link from HMP Peterborough on Wednesday.
Burnett, from Northampton, pleaded not guilty to burglary.
He also denied three other charges including conspiracy to commit burglary, conspiracy to steal a motor vehicle, and making a threat to kill during the same hearing.
The missing items include Four Middle Bronze Age gold armlets from Llanwrthwrl, Powys, and an Early Bronze Age gold lunula, a crescent-shaped ornament worn as a necklace, from Llanllyfni, Gwynedd.
Darren Burnett, 50, also from Northampton, also appeared by videolink for the 25-minute hearing but was not asked to enter any pleas. He is expected to be arraigned on December 11.
The museum’s chief executive described the stolen Bronze Age gold jewellery as ‘invaluable’
The items went missing from St Fagans National Museum of History in Cardiff last month
South Wales Police said a 45-year-old woman from Northamptonshire was arrested as part of the investigation and is on police bail.
The items were taken from the open-air museum, which opened in 1948 in the grounds of St Fagans castle and is a popular heritage visitor attraction.
Jane Richardson, chief executive of Amgueddfa Cymru, or Museum Wales, previously said in a statement released by police: ‘We’d like to thank the police for their continuing investigation into the search for these invaluable and irreplaceable items that are part of Wales’s history, heritage, and culture.
‘I’d like to encourage anyone who may have any information about their location to come forward to the police so that they can be returned to their rightful home within Wales’s national collection for everyone to access and enjoy.’