Couple pleads guilty to fraud over Egyptian statue fakery

Manchester Evening News

A COUPLE in their 80s today pleaded guilty to defrauding galleries and antique dealers by passing off fake works of art.

George Greenhalgh, 84, and Olive Greenhalgh, 83, of Bolton, Greater Manchester, conspired to defraud art institutions between June 1999 and March last year, Bolton Crown Court heard.

They also admitted conspiracy to conceal and transfer £410,392, the proceeds of the sale of the Amarna Princess statuette to Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council.

Their son, Shaun, 47, pleaded guilty to the same offences at an earlier hearing.

All three, who live at The Crescent, Bromley Cross, Bolton, will be sentenced on a date to be fixed between November 16 and 23.

They were were given unconditional bail.

The Amarna Princess, an Egyptian statue, believed to be about 3,300 years old, was bought by Bolton Council for £440,000 in September 2003.

However, experts determined the 20-inch sculpture was a fake last year.

Also on the BBC News website and the International Herald Tribune.