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A new ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ South Inside Out investigation has revealed the threat posed to the south of England's heritage by illegal treasure hunters.

For the programme, to be screened tonight (Monday 9 November) on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ One in the South, Joe Crowley and the Inside Out team use heat-seeking cameras and infra-red equipment to catch the criminals in the act at a protected heritage site in Sussex.

To save the site from further attack by what is called "nighthawking", its location is not revealed.

But one of the nighthawks is not so lucky and, when asked why he's out in the middle of the night with a metal detector and a spade, he threatens to assault the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ crew.

And the man's concern about being caught is understandable as Joe discovers that nighthawking can be a very profitable business.

There are sites like the one in Sussex across the country, designated as "scheduled monuments", that are of tremendous historical importance.

Often these sites haven't yet been excavated and their underground monuments need to be preserved intact to be carefully and delicately excavated by archaeologists at a later date if necessary.

But, as the programme highlights, these sites' hidden treasures are becoming ill-gotten gains for unscrupulous individuals.

Ann Clark is an English Heritage Field Advisor working to tackle nighthawking in Sussex.

Surveying the remnants of a night's plundering, she explains to Joe the impact this activity can have: "There are hundreds (of holes)... they are repeatedly coming back.

"When anything goes on in this area agriculturally, these people are coming back and having another look. They can see the ground has been turned over again so they'll come back.

"There's obviously enough exciting stuff here for them to take it away, which means there's enough archaeological information here which would be of interest to us and that's gone, forever."

"We've heard that people have bragged in the local pub about having a really, really good find and that tells us it is something of great monetary value because they wouldn't be so excited, probably something really rare."

On the nighthawks themselves, Ann says: "They've got no fear about coming out here and robbing the landowner for a start, let alone robbing us of our heritage."

Nighthawking is prevalent across the country and often goes unreported as landowners are sometimes intimidated and find it difficult to deal with the problems because the criminals operate under the cover of darkness making it a difficult crime to police.

Under the law, not only are nighthawks trespassing on private or protected land but it is illegal to even possess a metal detector, let alone use it, on scheduled monuments.

Watching the nighthawks, Joe comments in the programme: "They are doing sweeping actions with their arms, I think they are (using) metal detectors. But then they'll stop, go right down to the ground, clearly making a digging action, digging holes and trying to get things up to the surface.

"This is a listed monument, it's the middle of the night, I don't how these guys would explain it. There is no doubt in my mind they should not be here. This is illegal nighthawking."

After witnessing the practice first-hand Joe said: "It's amazing how these guys operate. With the naked eye you simply wouldn't see them in the field. They don't appear to use torches and their metal detectors seem to have headphones so they don't make a noise.

"It's only because of the heat-sensitive camera that we had any idea there were five guys all nighthawking just a few yards from us in the field."

He added: "Working on this story I've spoken to lots of metal detectorists and archaeologists and it's clear that the vast majority of people who use metal detectors are responsible and law-abiding.

"But there are a few who have no interest in history at all. They're motivated by greed and that's why they're raiding our monuments – it is these criminals that are the illegal nighthawks."

Inside Out and The Nighthawks can be seen on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ One South at 7.30pm on Monday 9 November 2009 or watch again on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ iPlayer at bbc.co.uk/iplayer.

HB