Stolen painting: lawyer among four charged with conspiracy to rob

Published on Saturday 6 October 2007 01:46

ONE of Scotland's top insolvency lawyers appeared in court yesterday in connection with one of the biggest art heists of modern times - the theft of the Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece Madonna of the Yarnwinder from Drumlanrig Castle in August 2003.

Calum Jones, 42, from Kilmacolm, Renfrewshire, appeared on petition at Dumfries Sheriff Court along with three other men - Robert Graham, 55, and John Doyle, 58, from Ormskirk, Lancashire, and Marshall Ronald, 51, of Skelmersdale, Lancashire. All four were all charged with conspiracy to rob and extort money.

They made no plea or declaration during the private appearance before Sheriff Kenneth Barr, were committed for further examination and granted bail with special conditions.

Their court appearance followed the recovery of the 16th-century masterpiece during a raid on the central Glasgow offices of the law firm HBJ Gateley Wareing on Thursday morning.

Jones, who studied at Dundee University, qualified as a lawyer in 1988. His wife, Janice, is also a lawyer with the legal firm Harper Macleod. The couple have two young children.

It is understood Ronald is also a solicitor, working in England. The occupations of the other two men are unknown.

The da Vinci work, which has an estimated value of 30 million, had been in the Duke of Buccleuch's family for two centuries and was admired by thousands of visitors to Drumlanrig Castle every year.

Yesterday, the police gave further details about the operation to recover the painting.

Detective Superintendent Brian Anderson, of Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary, said 60 officers had been involved in the search of premises in both Glasgow and Lancashire.

"At the time of the recovery of the painting, five people were detained," he said. "Four men were later arrested."

He said that 30 officers were still working to capture other people involved in its theft, storage and transportation.

Yesterday, the current Duke of Buccleuch said that, while it was a joyful moment for the family, it was tinged with sadness.

"My great sadness is my father, who died almost a month ago to the day, was not able to share in this wonderful moment," he said.

"I'm sure that he is looking down on us all. He was so keen to share the painting with everyone. It was he who was the first duke to open the family home in the 1970s."

He said a portion of the insurance money had been paid to the family after the theft, but that would now be paid back with interest to the insurers, which would give the Buccleuch family full ownership of the painting, which was bought at a Parisian auction house in 1750.

The duke said the recovery of the painting was like a "family member returning home", and he hoped to see it back on show at the estate next summer. He added that security at the castle had been stepped up.

The painting is being held in a vault in an undisclosed location, prior to a full inspection in a conservation studio by the National Gallery of Scotland. However, Michael Clarke, the director of the gallery, who authenticated the painting after its recovery, said it appeared to be in good condition.

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS FOR ART THIEVES

THE recovery of The Madonna of the Yarnwinder serves as a potent reminder that the inexorable increase in art prices over the last ten years has gone hand in hand with rising levels of international art and antiquities crime. As the expression goes, where there's brass, there's muck.

Often called the world's second oldest profession, art crime is believed by the FBI to be the world's fourth largest area of criminal activity worth some 2.94 billion a year.

The bulk of activity is in small, low value items that are harder to identify and easier to sell on, but high profile cases have hit the headlines over the past few years.

In Spain in 2001, for example, thieves stole 14 works of art, including a Goya and Pisarro, from Esther Koplowitz, one of the world's richest women and in 2004, Munch's The Scream was stolen at gun point in Oslo.

Often the crimes appear to be opportunistic, with the thief only belatedly realising the value of what they have taken.

A common theory is that these priceless works are stolen to order for criminal masterminds. The truth, however, is often more prosaic.

• James Twining's book The Gilded Seal is published on 15 October by Harper Collins.