THE FORMER spokesman for families battling eviction from the Dale Farm traveller site has denied being part of a gang that masterminded the theft of high-value artefacts from museums up and down the country.

Richard Sheridan, 46, a former governer of Crays Hill Primary School, is one of 14 men, two others from south Essex, charged with conspiracy to steal the items following a national investigation into the thefts which included items made from rhinocerous horns.

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Friends: Richard Sheridan (left) with Corin and Vanessa Redgrave (above) and being arrested at Smithy Fen on suspicion of the offences in September 2013 (below)

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He spearheaded the campaign for 86 families to stay on unauthorised pitches at Oak Lane, Crays Hill, from 2005.

Sheridan's supporters during his campaign which ended when the site was demolished in a £7million operationin October 2011 included international stage and screen star Vanessa Redgrave and her late brother Four Weddings actor Corin Redgrave, who both visited the site.

Ten co-defendants, including his two of his cousins Richard ‘Kerry’ O’Brien, 30, from Dale Farm, Oak Lane, Crays Hill, and John ‘Kerry’ O’Brien, 25, from Orchard Drive, Smithy Fen, Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, where Sheridan now lives, also denied the charge at Birmingham Crown Court.

Sheridan's John “Cash”O’Brien, 67, from Fifth Avenue, Wolverhampton, and Paul Pammen, 48, from Alton Gardens, Southend, also denied the charge.

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Huge: Dale Farm before the eviction

The men are charged in connection with a series of crimes over a four-month period at museums and auction houses across England.

Chinese artefacts and rhinoceros horns were targeted in seven incidents – two thefts and an attempted theft from Durham University Oriental Museum and further incidents at Gorringes Auction House in East Sussex, Norwich Castle Museum in Norfolk, the Powell Cotton Museum in Kent and the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.

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Ornate: Three of the precious Chinese artefacts stolen from the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge

Twelve of the men, aged between 25 and 67, were arrested in a series of warrants across the UK and Ireland in 2013 by police forces and the National Crime Agency.

The 13th, Daniel “Turkey”O’Brien, 44, of Orchard Drive, Smithy Fen, was arrested in November last year and the 14th, Danny Flynn, 44, of Orchard Drive, Smithy Fen was arrested on European arrest warrant in Dublin in January this year. Both deny the charge.

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Charged: Daniel "Turkey" O'Brien

Robert Gilbert Smith, 27, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to the charge and another two, Alan Clarke, 36, and Patrick Clarke, 32, both of Melbourne Road, Newham, London, will appear at Birmingham Crown Court on April 20 to make their pleas.

The remaining four who pleaded not guilty are Ashley Dad, 34, from Crowther Road, Wolverhampton, Michael Hegarty, 42, Orchard Drive, Smithy Fen, Terrence McNamara, 46, of Marquis St, Belfast, and Chi Chong Donald Wong, 55, of Clapham Common South Side, Lambeth.