A COURT has issued a warrant for the arrest of a detectorist who discovered and stole the Herefordshire Viking Hoard worth £3m.

Much of the hoard, including some 75 per cent of 300 ninth century coins, is still missing after George Powell, from Newport, and Layton Davies, from Pontypridd, secretly sold the treasure to collectors.

Both were sentenced to lengthy jail terms in 2019, and Powell was due to appear before Birmingham magistrates last month after failing to repay £600,000 from the proceeds.

But the treasure thief failed to turn up, and police are now hunting him.

Co-conspirator Davies is already back behind bars, serving an extra five years three months for failing to pay back £670,000.

The duo made the find of a lifetime surveying a field in Eye near Leominster in 2015, comprising exquisite ninth century gold jewellery and silver coins.

But instead of lawfully declaring the treasure, they secretly sold the valuables, with much of it still missing.

Some 30 coins were orginally recovered – believed to be Anglo-Saxon, but hidden by Vikings – one double-headed, showing Alfred the Great, who ruled Wessex, and Ceolwulf II of Mercia.

Historians said this revealed an unknown alliance, while the find also provided evidence that the Viking Great Army had roamed through Herefordshire.

The hoard also included a a crystal rock pendant, a 9th-century gold ring, a dragon's head bracelet and an ingot.

Another 44 coins valued at £766,000 were recovered in 2019 when a police sting operation arrested Craig Best, from Durham, and Roger Pilling, from Lancashire, who thought they were selling them to a US buyer. They were both jailed for five years in 2023.

The recovered hoard, which was displayed last year at York's Jorvik Viking Centre, is due to be the centrepiece of the revamped Hereford Museum, currently undergoing a £22m refurbishment.

The museum raised £776,250 to buy the jewellery, ingot, and 29 coins from the owner of the field where they were found.