A man from Gloucestershire tried to pass off counterfeit ancient statues as genuine artefacts worth hundreds of thousands of pounds at one of the world's most famous auction houses. His plan unravelled not because experts doubted the objects themselves but because the paperwork he submitted gave him away entirely.

Andrew Crowley, 46, from Gloucestershire, created fake documents to try and support the claim his collection of 'Bronze Age' statues were authentic.

Prosecutors alleged that, if real, the items together would have been worth about £680,000 based on previous sales