Metal detectorists who pretended it was just a rumour that they had discovered £3m of Viking treasure have been found guilty of thieving the priceless trove.

George Powell, 38, and Layton Davies, 51, failed to tell the UK authorities they had found coins and jewellery dating back 1,100 years to the reign of King Alfred the Great.

They came across the historic items while digging up Herefordshire farmland which did not belong to them on June 2, 2015.

Realising they would be the envy of fellow collectors across the world, they had planned to sell them off bit by bit for millions of pounds on the black market.

They insisted that the only coins they found were declared to the National Museum Wales in Cardiff, and talk of any other items was just a rumour.

But their plan was foiled when police discovered photographs of the haul on Davies' phone.

All treasure found in the UK belongs to the Crown and a Treasure Valuation Committee decides how it should be shared among the finder and the landowner or tenant.

Powell had only handed over three coins to the owner of the land and those were "not particularly valuable", Worcester Crown Court heard during their seven-week trial.