Staffordshire Hoard millionaires in secret feud

Mar 20 2011 Exclusive by Adam Aspinall, Sunday Mercury

IT was the archaeological find of a lifetime that turned two Midlanders into overnight millionaires.

Metal detectorist Terry Herbert struck gold by discovering a huge haul of Saxon treasure in a field belonging to farmer Fred Johnson – and transformed their lives forever.

News of the historic Staffordshire Hoard was reported around the world and the pair later banked £1.6 million each after the treasure was bought by grateful museum bosses.

But the Sunday Mercury can reveal the men have now had a spectacular falling out – and admit they sometimes wish they had never found the gold.

Fred, 67, labelled Terry ‘greedy’ and blasted: ‘‘I never want to see that fella on my land ever again – he’s banned.

“I wish I‘d never met the man. It has caused me nothing but bother, all this.’’

But Terry, 56, hit back by claiming the farmer was unhappy he had been forced to split the cash jackpot, as required by law. “I think Fred wanted all of the money and is now resentful he has had to share it,’’ he said. ‘‘That’s what is at the heart of this.

“He’s acting like a child and cutting his nose off to spite his face.

“It does hurt my feelings that he has taken this stance but now I’m not sure there is anyway we can do to patch things up.

“Sometimes I wish I’d never found that Hoard.’’

The Hoard was discovered by Terry in a muddy field at Hammerwich, near Brownhills, on July 5 in 2009.

It soon became clear the amazing find was the most important Anglo-Saxon treasure ever uncovered in England and the story became an international sensation.

The find consisted of more than 1,500 items which were dated to the 7th or 8th centuries, placing their origin in the time of the Kingdom of Mercia.

The treasure, which included hundreds of bejewelled battlefield items, added up to around 5kg of the purest of gold and 2.5kg of silver.

Experts were stunned at the quality of the workmanship and within days of the announcement of the find in September, 2009, a website about the Hoard had received more than 10 millions hits.

Some of the jewels were eventually put on display at the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, attracting 40,000 people and causing queues several hours long.

Likeable and unassuming Terry appeared in newspapers and on TV publicising the find, but bad feeling was growing with publicity-shy Fred.

When the Sunday Mercury asked the farmer about the feud last week he exploded: “I’m fed up of him (Terry)!