Three accused of stolen Da Vinci art plot have charges dropped

THREE men accused of plotting to extort money for the return of a stolen Leonardo da Vinci painting have had the charges against them dropped.

Crown Office officials said yesterday it was "no longer in the public interest" to continue proceedings against Michael Brown, George Short and James Boyle.

The move follows a decision by a jury to clear five men of conspiring in 2007 to extort 4.25 million for the return of The Madonna Of The Yarnwinder, which was stolen from the Dumfries-shire estate of the Duke of Buccleuch in 2003.

Solicitor Marshall Ronald, 53, of Skelmersdale, Lancashire, private investigators Robert Graham, 57, and John Doyle, 61, both of Ormskirk, Lancashire, and Glasgow solicitors Calum Jones, 45, and David Boyce, 63, were acquitted last month after an eight-week trial at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Brown, Short and Boyle were the subject of a separate indictment relating to the period between May 2004 and May 2007. Neither they nor the five men were accused of the robbery.

The three men were due to appear at a preliminary hearing at the High Court in Glasgow next week, accused of a conspiracy to extort money from the Buccleuch family and others for the return of the 20m artwork.

That hearing will no longer take place after prosecutors dropped the charges.

The Crown Office said: "Having considered the evidence in light of the jury's recent decision in the previous related case, Crown counsel have decided it is no longer in the public interest to continue proceedings.

"The case will not call on Monday and so criminal proceedings are at an end. The Buccleuch family have been kept fully informed of this decision."

The Madonna Of The Yarnwinder was stolen by axe-wielding robbers from Drumlanrig Castle in August 2003. The 16th-century masterpiece ended up on the FBI's list of the ten most-wanted pieces of stolen art.