Antiquities dealer who exposed thefts at British Museum dies aged 61

Ittai Gradel had tried to persuade the museum to investigate the thefts in 2021, when he first suspected gems from the museum’s collections were being sold online. Photograph: Matthew James Harrison

The academic turned antiquities dealer who exposed the theft of hundreds of artefacts from the British Museum has died aged 61.

Dr Ittai Gradel, from Denmark, alerted the British Museum and the police after he was able to buy dozens of museum artefacts on eBay over the course of several years.