Cultural sites 'vulnerable to criminals' during 2012 Olympics

Former Scotland Yard expert warns that security focus on London games will leave museums, galleries and cathedrals open to theft

The Ashmolean museum in Oxford was broken into in 1999. Photograph: Graham Turner for the Guardian A former head of Scotland Yard's art and antiquities squad has warned that "virtually nothing" is being done to secure Britain's cultural and religious sites against criminal attacks which he claims could be sparked by the London 2012 Olympics.

Charles Hill said security around the games was focusing on Olympic sites, while many so-called "soft targets" – including museums, galleries, churches and cathedrals – are being overlooked.
Hill pointed to evidence of "high and holy day trophy art crime" being carried out when police resources are especially stretched.

During the 1994 winter Olympics in Norway, thieves stole Edvard Munch's painting The Scream from the Oslo National Art Museum and left a note that said: "Thanks for the poor security."

On New Year's Eve 1999 robbers broke into the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and took its only Cézanne, while Rembrandts and a Vermeer were stolen from a museum in Boston – still the art world's biggest unsolved theft – on St Patrick's Day 1990.

Hill has investigated some of the most high-profile art thefts and headed undercover operations to recover works. Today, he said soft targets inside and outside the capital would be vulnerable during the Olympics, which could also be a target for terrorist attacks.

His comments came after the sports minister, Hugh Robertson, announced last week that the security minister, Pauline Neville-Jones, is carrying out a review of security for the 2012 games.
However, it has not been confirmed whether the review will include soft targets, with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport saying security was a matter for the Home Office.

Hill's concerns were echoed by Peter Osborne, a former national security adviser for the nation's museums, who said: "It is imperative that the security of [cultural] sites is not overlooked." But the directors of the Museum of London and the National Portrait Gallery said today that their security was being reviewed through the National Museum Directors' Conference, which represents the UK's national collections.

Jack Lohman, the Museum of London director, said: "We're hot on security …liaising with police. All national museums have plans, co-ordinated by the NMDC." However, Dr Michael Dixon, the chairman of the NMDC, said: "There is no specific project that NMDC is working on to consolidate security issues for the Olympic year.

"It's up to individual museums, and there are good relations with the security services."
A spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers said: "Museums, galleries and cultural sites typically put in place their own security measures where necessary."