Stolen tapes of The Beatles last recording sessions were put up for sale for £250,000, Southwark Crown Court has heard. One Nigel Oliver is accused of trying to sell the recordings, about eighty hours worth of material on 504 tapes, on behalf of two unknown men, though he has been found 'unfit to plead'.
The recordings were recovered in 2003 during an undercover operation set up by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. Oliver is said to have organised the transaction between two men in Amsterdam and two undercover officers in the UK. The tapes were seized from a house in Lisse, Holland. Dutch investigator Rachid Bourammani said: "The tapes were stacked up in boxes on the floor of the house. There were lots and lots of them."
Neil Aspinall of Beatels company Apple Corps said: "These tapes have a huge commercial value. There's lots of very unknown stuff and music they wouldn't have recorded in a normal session. For example, they covered over 200 songs on these tapes. Songs of the day, such as Bob Dylan."
The case continues today.