Stolen tapes of The Beatles' final recording sessions contained more than 200 one-off performances and unique covers, a court heard today.
Original Beatles road manager Neil Aspinall told jurors about the value of the unique recordings as he gave evidence in the trial of Nigel Oliver (55) from Slough. Mr Oliver is accused of trying to sell 504 tapes made during the sessions for around £250,000.
He was allegedly caught during an undercover sting in 2003 set up by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry to recover the tapes, which went missing at the end of the recordings in 1969.
Among the gems on the tapes were versions of Rod Stewart's Maggie Mayand Bob Dylan's Blowing In The Wind, as well as recordings of the Beatles' opinions on everything from music to bootlegging.
More than 500 tapes were recorded during the historic "Get Back" sessions for The Beatles' final album, Let It Be.
This morning, Mr Aspinall, who is managing director of The Beatles' Apple company, told Southwark Crown Court he did not know what had happened to the tapes at the end of the session as he was not the manager of Apple between 1969 and 1973.
He said he searched for the tapes in the mid-1990s but could not find them.
Earlier in the trial, the court was told how Oliver was the "middle man" in the sale of the tapes. He was arrested after organising the sale from two unknown men in Amsterdam to two undercover officers.
Oliver was not at court today and has been found unfit to plead. He is charged with two counts of handling stolen goods.
PA