Pair charged with failing to declare artefacts from wrecked Navy warship

TWO men have been charged in connection with the alleged removal of items from a sunken Royal Navy warship in the English Channel.

John Blight and Nigel Ingram are accused of failing to declare items from HMS Hermes, a protected cruiser built in the late 19th century and converted into an aircraft ferry and depot ship ready for the First World War.

It was sunk by a German submarine in the Dover Strait in October 1914 with the loss of 44 lives.

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Officers from Kent Police launched an investigation in August 2015 after reports of missing objects from the ship.

Blight, 57, from Winchelsea in East Sussex, has been charged with three counts of dishonestly failing to disclose items of wreck to the Receiver of Wreck with intent to make a gain.

Ingram, 56, from Teynham in Kent, has been charged with the same three counts as well as being in possession of £16,000 worth of criminal property.

Both men have been bailed to appear at Margate Magistrates’ Court on March 2.